Cerulean
by EverythingIsMagic
Summary: Arthur is spending a normal summer in Cape Cod, when he encounters the extraordinary in the form of an enthusiastic young merman named Alfred. Over one summer, they'll fall in love. Over one summer, their lives will change forever. AmericaxEngland AU
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Okay. First off, the next chapter of _You Can't Take the Sky From Me_ is almost done. Barring a random disaster, it WILL be out by the end of the week. But I really needed to start getting this story out of my system. Who am I to ignore the muses? _Cerulean_ will not be a super long fic. I'm not quite sure of the chapter count, but certainly it will be under fifteen chapters. It's a little bit fantasy, a little bit slice of life, and a lot romance. The main pairing is AmericaxEngland. There are minor pairings in the form of CanadaxUkraine, SwedenxFinland, DenmarkxNorway, and SpainxSouth Italy. There are some notes at the end of the chapter.

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**Cerulean**

_Chapter One_

By Everything is Magic

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Arthur Kirkland was spending his second consecutive summer in Cape Cod when it occurred, when the sea that provided his May to September getaway revealed to him something amazing, something brilliant, something that would change his life forever.

The beachfront condo that Arthur was staying at belonged to his father, an American mogul that he scarcely knew, but who had offered it to him upon discovering where his son was currently residing. Arthur suspected that his father had houses in most of the fifty states, and that he probably didn't visit this one often anyway. His English mother had raised him in London, and he'd only come over to the United States for schooling. The states still felt new to him from time to time, and he often longed for rainy and crowded, but to him, charming, London. But he was hardly going to turn down an acceptance letter and a scholarship from Harvard. So in his eighteenth year, he'd left home to attend the university. Arthur had just completed his sophomore year, with journalism on his mind as a career.

Unfortunately for Arthur, he wasn't living at the condo alone. His half-brother, Francis, was staying there as well, and for that Arthur was eternally ungrateful. He and Francis shared a father, and their mothers, despite living across the channel from each other and despite having once been in a relationship with the same man, shared a friendship. Thus, this unusual arrangement had led the two boys to spend a large amount of time together since their childhood. As much as Francis was the most perverse and aggravating person that Arthur had ever had the pleasure of knowing, he was his half-brother, and one of his only consistent friends. For that, he couldn't begrudge him _too_ much.

Francis was in Provincetown this weekend though, no doubt exploring the scene with his two best friends, Gilbert and Antonio. Arthur sighed in pleasure at this. An entire weekend free of Francis; free of his loud friends and the men and women he'd whisk to the bedroom without even remotely attempting to keep it discreet. Free from his prodding, for Francis was always urging him to get out more, to try a relationship, to stop thinking about school all the time (it was summer!) and relax.

He bloody well knew how to relax perfectly fine! And he was doing that just now. He'd taken his father's yacht out after all, and he was enjoying a beautiful day on Nantucket Sound! He had a book to read (_Lord Byron's Major Works_), a thermos of tea, and a lunch of sandwiches that he'd prepared himself. He could think of few things more relaxing than the yacht gently bobbing on the Atlantic sound, as he enjoyed the salty sea air and the sound of the water lapping at the boat and the birds crying overhead.

Francis was barmy if he thought that a rowdy weekend in Provincetown was better than this. He smiled lightly. Upon piloting the boat for around half an hour, he'd decided to allow the yacht to drift. As long as the shore was in sight, he was all right. He glanced behind him to see the pale line of beach and land. Setting his thermos of tea and his book aside, Arthur walked to the back of the yacht and sat down. He pulled off his deck shoes and slid them under a bench, allowing his bare feet to dangle in the cool blue water.

He loved the weather here. Warm, but not too warm; pleasant and lightly breezy and just… perfect for his time off school. Every once in a while when he was out on the yacht, he'd spot the blowhole of a whale or the fin of a dolphin, or see a seal bobbing about (there were scads of seals in the area), and that was always a bit thrilling. Fish would even nibble at his toes from time to time, gently, because they were so small. It tickled and caused him to chuckle quietly whenever it occurred.

He hadn't spotted a thing today, outside a school of fish beneath the surface, and the inevitable seabirds overhead. It was a slight disappointment, but the weather was so beautiful and the lack of Francis so enjoyable, that he didn't mind. Nonetheless, he half considered getting up and going to the downstairs cabin in attempt to locate the binoculars that he knew were kept somewhere on the yacht. Instead, he settled on returning to his book. But as he was about to push himself up to retrieve it, he heard a rather loud splash. Swiftly looking forward, he spotted the telltale fluke of a dolphin, although from where he was, it looked an unusual color. Not quite the normal gray, but instead, a bright blue. Arthur didn't pretend to know everything about sea life (in truth, it was hardly his field of expertise), so perhaps, he assumed, it was just a species he hadn't encountered before. He observed the water, hoping for the dolphin to surface again.

After several moments, it did, leaping into the air and turning a flip, the sheen of it catching in the bright sunlit. That's what he had expected, at least, having seen dolphins leap out of the water on several occasions. The reality was quite different though. The animal with its bright dolphin fluke did indeed soar out of the water, but it hardly looked like a dolphin at all outside of that. Peach skin, long arms, a shock of blonde hair, and… a tail. He nearly fell face forward into the water as he leaned forward, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. A mermaid? No, no, he rectified. A mer_man_.

But that was asinine. Even Arthur, who had grown up in a rather superstitious household where salt was always thrown over the shoulder, and where his mother gave him haircuts when the moon was waxing, could not believe that this was anything more than a mistake. He was seeing things. Being around Francis had affected his brain, or something of the sort. The dolphin (for surely it was that), had long landed back in the water and had not surfaced again. Good. He'd just forget he'd ever seen anything (not that he had).

But just seconds later, a head popped up out of the water, and less than two meters away, quite obviously attached, was a tail. And he was… well, smiling. He gulped, taking a deep breath and yelling out, his curiosity gaining the best of him, "Hallo?" The creature perked up, looking straight at him. "Yes, you there, merman or whatever you are." Well, at least if he had gone off his rocker and was seeing things, there was no one there to make fun of him for it.

But there was no getting around it. Arthur was quite definitively seeing exactly what he had first assumed. The man, nay, _half_-man, splashed forward, leaping above the water with incongruous ease, his bloody _tail _flashing cerulean blue in the mid-afternoon sunlight. It melded with his upper body seamlessly, the smooth blue gradually fading, until all that was left was a very human looking torso.

The boy paused once he'd reached the edge of the yacht, eyes wide as saucers, and an expression of intense confusion and amazement on his face, as if Arthur were the strange one here. Arthur's breath quaked as he surveyed the man before him, who had proceeded to rest his arms on the edge of the boat, chin atop his hands.

"Y-you can see me?" He finally uttered. His blue eyes were still large, and they were_ bright_, to the point of verging on unnatural. He shook his mussed golden hair (vibrant like his eyes) and waited.

Arthur gulped thickly. "O-of course I can bloody see you. You're right in front of me." Perhaps that had been a tad rude. Snapping at what appeared to a merman may not have been wise. "I mean, I apologize. I can see you, yes."

"Wow, that's awesome!"

Awesome. Had a merman seriously popped out of the Atlantic Ocean beside his yacht and declared something _awesome_?

"So what's your name? I'm Alfred!" The merman was beaming now, and his smile was brilliant to the point of ridiculousness.

"A-Arthur." It was all he could manage to say.

Alfred laughed. "Nice to meet you Arthur." He reached up and slapped a hand on his arm, and Arthur noticed a small sprinkling of smooth looking blue flesh on Alfred's wrist, leading up to a miniature fin that ran about half the length of his forearm.

The Englishman's throat felt dry. A merman had just slapped him on the arm, in a friendly gesture of greeting; a very handsome merman, but a merman nonetheless. He closed his eyes for a moment, calming his nerves. "Alfred, it's… a pleasure to meet you as well. That being said, do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?" Clearly he'd had too much to drink the night before; except Arthur knew that he hadn't downed any alcohol at all.

The merman scratched the back of his head with his other arm, and Arthur caught a flash of iridescent fin on that one as well. "Oops."

"…Oops?"

He let out a nervous laugh. "I kind of got excited, okay? It's just… well I've never met anyone who can see through our uh…" he searched for a word, "disguise, I guess?" There was an oddness to the manner in which he spoke, a slight over enunciation of the consonants, the pace in which he was speaking quickened and slowed at incorrect points in words, and his pitch fluctuated unevenly between syllables.

"Disguise?" Arthur noticed that Alfred's hand was still resting on his arm. He chanced a glance down at it, completely normal except for the slightly translucent fin. Despite being in the water, his skin was a comfortable temperature.

"Yes! We can't just let humans see us… at least not any longer, so to most people we appear as dolphins."

"Why dolphins?"

He shrugged. "Don't know? It's safe. Humans treat us well. We don't have to worry about getting caught or whatever in most places. You all like dolphins."

Arthur tapped his chin. People did have a bit of affinity toward dolphins, so he supposed that made sense. _Wait a damn second. Nothing makes sense! _"You're a… merman?"

Alfred merely nodded, still smiling. Arthur smacked his forehead. "I won't believe it. I can't! This is preposterous. This is-"

He was interrupted by a splash and the slight creak of the yacht as more weight was added to it.

Alfred was sitting right next to him, having pushed himself up onto the edge of the boat. The end of his tail swished back and forth, treading ocean water in a gentle manner. Unbidden, Arthur's eyes skimmed up and down the man's body, his muscular torso, his sodding _tail, _smooth and almost rubbery looking, like the skin of a dolphin. He turned his face toward Arthur, and those blue eyes sparkled. "Uh, hi?"

"….So wait a minute. You mean to tell me that if a boat were to come by right now, they'd see me sitting on the back of a yacht conversing with a dolphin?"

Alfred scrunched up his face, as if in thought. "Hmm, good question. I don't know."

"Hmph."

"Anyway, you're pretty much the first human being I've ever talked to! Isn't that awesome?" His grin was larger than ever now.

"I-I am?" Arthur felt a pang of guilt stab at him, because he'd been rather pissy with the… merman. He breathed deeply. "You- honestly, I don't mean to be rude, but can you just explain yourself?"

"Hmm." Alfred tapped his chin. "I'm a merman. I'm nineteen summers old. I have a twin brother named Matthew and we've lived in this area of the Atlantic for a few years. I like playing ah- what do you call them? Sports! I love playing sports and- "

"That's very well, thank you," Arthur interrupted. "I meant the fact that you're a merman."

Alfred splashed some water on his fin, presumably to keep it from getting dry. "Yeah!"

"And this isn't a bit… strange to you?"

"Uh. No," Alfred responded, bewildered.

Arthur bit his lip. What kind of question had that been? Of course it wasn't bloody strange to _him_. "I'm sorry. I'm just… finding this all very hard to believe."

The merman glanced at him, pensive. He leaned his arms back on the yacht and tilted his head up toward the sky. At that moment, Arthur thought he was beautiful. He'd be stupid to deny it. There was something otherworldly about the creature, in his brightness and his smile and- perhaps it was intentional? Arthur had read many legends about the beauty of mer_maids_, the traps that unsuspecting sailors were led into because of those supernatural women.

Arthur didn't precisely feel threatened by Alfred, but musing on the merpeople legends he'd grown up with, the uncanny attractiveness did seem to make more sense.

"Yeah, I guess you would. Tino says that it used to be that everyone knew of us, but that was… lifetimes and lifetimes before I was born."

Arthur shifted slightly, his hand accidentally coming in contact with the smooth wet skin of Alfred's bottom half as he did so. "S-sorry." He pulled away, blushing hotly.

The merman waved his hand, uncaring. "That reminds me…"

Before Arthur could even reply, Alfred had stretched toward him, running a finger down his burning cheek and then up into his windswept hair and- just kind of sifting around, hands investigating Arthur's face and hair, as if touching and exploring something new, which he assumed was exactly what he was doing. At one point he even ran his fingers across Arthur's thick eyebrows. Talk about not understanding personal space! He was flush against Arthur, his tail pressing next to his bare legs and his torso mere inches away. Alfred's expression could only be described as intent yet curious. He was biting his lip, appearing concentrated, yet his eyes were wide and brimming with inquisitiveness.

And then he moved his hands down to Arthur's legs, his fascination only growing. He bent Arthur's knee, moving the joint back and forth and looking amazed as he did so. Awkwardly, Arthur shifted so his leg was entirely on the deck, and Alfred immediately moved down to his feet, fingers running along and between each toe, and then bending them to test the joints.

Arthur winced, gritting his teeth to stop himself from laughing as Alfred's light touching moved to the bottom of his feet.

As if this day could get any stranger, he was now being felt up by a merman. He assumed Alfred wasn't doing anything of the sort. The inquisitive expression never left his face, and every few seconds, he would hear him mutter 'so cool' or 'awesome' or things of the sort under his breath. He'd never thought of his toes as 'amazing!' but to Alfred, they apparently were.

The entire time, Arthur could not even come close to willing down the scarlet flush that flooded his cheeks. He was well aware of his preference for the same sex, and had been for many years, so it was only natural that Alfred was eliciting this reaction from him. But for heaven's sake, he was a merman! _I should pull away, I truly should… _

But one look at Alfred's marveled face, and he sighed inwardly and relented. After all, no one had really ever found him 'amazing' before now.

He continued to allow Alfred to explore him. He had soft hands, not pruned, like his would have been had he spent so long underwater, and his fingernails were uneven and not very well kept.

Alfred never ventured anywhere indecent on Arthur, although at one point he did lift up his shirt, running his hands along the side of his torso and finding something about his side extremely bewildering, judging by his reaction.

After what must have been minutes, Alfred finally pulled away, a huge smile on his face and his eyes sparkling with excitement. "You are SO cool!"

He was waving his arms enthusiastically as he proclaimed this.

Arthur merely blinked, cheeks finally beginning to cool down. "Th-thank you?"

He nodded. "I mean I've seen tons of humans, but I've never gotten to really look at one like this. Up close, you know?"

The Englishman chuckled lightly. "All right, I suppose I would be interesting to you then. If you ask me though, you're a lot more intriguing than me."

Alfred shrugged. "Maybe to you," he paused. "I kind of thought your hair would feel different, but it doesn't, it's just like mine… and your skin too." He snatched Arthur's hand, and his grip was firm, strong. Then again, Arthur mused, if he lives a life underwater, he's got to be strong to swim all the time.

The merman pressed Arthur's hand to his cheek, and he flushed again, as he registered the feel of Alfred's soft flesh under his fingers. "See, feels the same. Cool, huh?"

"I suppose…"

Alfred dropped his hand and pointed to Arthur's side. "And when I pulled up your clothes! It's so weird to see someone that doesn't have gills, I mean…"

Arthur cocked an eyebrow. "Gills?"

"For breathing, you know? Gills is the right word… isn't it?"

He nodded. "Well yes, I'm quite aware of what gills are I just…" He waved his hand. "I'm sorry. I'm being rude."

Alfred just smiled, grabbing his hand again. "Let me show you!" He placed Arthur's hand along the side of his torso and let go. "I breathe air out of my mouth, just like you do but… when I'm underwater, I need these. They're closed right now so air doesn't get in them."

Arthur ran his hand across the gills, which he had not even remotely noticed before. When closed, they appeared as several long, light pink lines on his skin, but Arthur could feel the slight hollowness beneath them and the edges of each one, where they would have opened in the water.

He pulled away when he felt Alfred shake, and then begin to laugh. "Ahhh, that tickles!"

The corner of Arthur's mouth tugged up in a smile. "Well that's how I felt when you touched my feet."

"Why didn't you laugh then? I thought that's what people did to when they were ticklish."

Arthur chuckled, very quietly. "We do. I was trying not to be rude though. You were obviously quite fascinated by my uhh- toes."

"Can you blame me? No one has toes where I come from," he explained, his laughter finally ceasing.

Well. That certainly made sense but…

The naive merman was in addition to being attractive, turning out to be quite cute as well. He had a feeling that this was the kind of person he'd see at a bar Francis had taken him to and wish terribly to ask to share a drink or some such, but never work up the courage to do so. Of course if Francis caught him staring at said person, he'd inevitably force Arthur to approach him, and the Englishman would bore him within minutes by talking about the weather, or accidentally say something rude and insulting (he had a knack for making biting comments, truly), and he'd leave.

He'd managed quite a substantial amount of conversation with Alfred without resorting to the weather, and he'd even stopped himself from being as caustic as he usually was. But he couldn't precisely take a merman out for a drink. Bollocks.

"I suppose not."

Alfred leaned back on his hands. "Ah wow. This is the greatest thing ever! I can't wait to tell the rest of my pod…" He paused, making eye contact with Arthur. "You have to tell me some stuff about yourself though! All I know is that you're Arthur."

Arthur hummed under his breath. "Well I… I'm Arthur Kirkland. I'm twenty years old, and I'm from London…"

"London?"

"Across the Atlantic Ocean, of course. Do you not know?"

Alfred shrugged. "I know there's a lot of land over there..."

"I guess that makes sense…" He tapped his chin. "Well the language you're speaking is English."

He was resting both hands on top of his fin now. "Yeah! Because we're off the coast of America! We learn the language of the landmass we're closest to. Keeps us safe, keeps us knowing what's going on, you know?"

Arthur noticed again, the odd manner in which he intoned his words. "Do you speak another language?"

"We have our own language, but we can't really speak it that well above water," he explained.

Eyes widening, for linguistics was a major he'd considered at one point, he spoke, "Oh, really? I suppose that would be because it's made for speaking in water, yes. Would it be possible to say something in it?"

Alfred shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. Arthur noticed that one particular piece of it stuck up at an odd angle, despite it being damp. Odd. "Hmm. Yeah, sure. It won't sound quite like it would underwater, but I can say something simple. How about my name?"

"I thought your name was Alfred…" He shot him a quizzical glance.

"It is!" He paused. "Well… kind of. I mean, Alfred is the closest thing I could find to my name in my own language..."

"Hmm, well let's hear it then!"

Alfred cleared his throat, and then elicited a series of short clicks punctuated by three sounds of various pitches, made deep in his larynx. He kept his mouth closed the entire time.

Arthur frowned slightly. "Is that it?"

"Uh, yeah?" He glanced away, nervous.

The Englishmen chuckled. "Sounds like a dolphin or a seal or some such. I suppose it's logical, living underwater, that you'd have a language like that." He picked at the fabric of his shorts, and his chinks pinked lightly. "Could you say my name then?"

Alfred scratched his cheek, looking a tad sheepish. "Not exactly sure how to do that, but what does it mean? I could do it like that…"

"There are a couple of meanings, actually. It's a matter of debate." He halted himself from babbling about the semantics of his name, as intriguing as he may have found it. "It could be 'bear' or… 'stone,' if you'd like."

"All right then. Awesome!" He cleared his throat again. "Bear," he produced five clicks, in a distinct rhythm with a different amount of time paused between each one. "Stone." Six rapid clicks and a brief high pitched noise at the end.

Arthur gaped. "Really, honestly interesting. Thank you." It was true. His inner linguist was leaping for joy. "But as I was saying, English originated in England, all right? London is a city in England, which is part of Great Britain."

Alfred beamed in recognition. "I know England, yeah. Berwald told me that merpeople were thought to be bad luck over there, so sorry if I scared you at all."

Arthur blinked, and then laughed lightly. "Not at all. 'Bad luck' hasn't exactly crossed my mind." Then again, he recalled how he'd gone out of his way to be friendly and avoid insulting the young merman for fear of… something. That had vanished by now, but perhaps the old wives' tales had kept him on cautious edge at first after all. It didn't help that he was so uncannily attractive, the git.

There was an edge of a smirk on Alfred's face now, something cheeky. "Well I am really awesome, so I guess I'd be a good luck merman or something, huh?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "If my boat wrecks on the way home, I'm blaming you."

"H-hey, that's not fair! I'm a hero. Heroes can't cause bad luck!" He explained, fervently.

Cocking a brow, Arthur gave him a look. "A hero?"

Alfred nodded. "Yes! I'm going to become a great hero."

The Englishman snorted. "How do you propose to do that? Do you cut fish free of nets or something?"

"I've done that before, yeah; happens pretty often that animals need help in other ways as well. I could uhh… save people from shipwrecks too, but I've never been around when there was a shipwreck. I'd totally do it though. I try to help out when I can, if you know what I mean? I've got to solve the ocean's problems."

"That's a lofty goal," Arthur pointed out.

"Yeah well, I'm awesome."

He'd settled into a comfortable rapport with the merman. Before, Alfred had just shown extreme curiosity, but now he was revealing other aspects of himself, which rather intrigued Arthur, even if one of the aspects turned out to be an obnoxious ego. "You're a bit of an idiot, you know that?"

Arthur felt more comfortable being himself now, or at least, testing the waters.

Alfred laughed, not put off at all. "Shut up. Heroes aren't idiots," he paused. "Oh and you talk funny."

"I- what?"

"I mean that you talk strangely. The other people that bring boats out here don't sound like that at all."

His eyes widened in realization. "Oh. Git, I'm from England! I have an English accent. I'm not American like they are."

"Oh. Right! Yeah Berwald and Tino have accents; they're sort of like my adoptive parents. And my brother's girlfriend, Katyusha, has a really weird one…"

"Yes, there then. I've got an accent as well."

Alfred's brow furrowed then. "Hey, what's a git? Never heard that before…"

Arthur smirked. "You're a git."

"Then it means merman or… hero or… what?"

"It means idiot. It's slang from Great Britain," he explained, sighing.

"Thanks for telling- hey, wait!" Alfred frowned and grumbled, reaching down into the water to splash his fin once more. He threw some onto his arms as well, wetting the fins on them.

"I suppose you've got to keep that wet then?" Arthur inquired. He nodded. "Your hair is almost dry." It was, the hot summer sun having rendered it so rapidly. It was even brighter now, an intense burnished golden and it looked- very soft. Arthur had the urge to run a hand through it, much like Alfred had done to him earlier, but he stopped himself.

"That's all right. I just need to make sure my bottom half stays wet, for the most part." He paused. "Hey, you never did tell me much else about you. I found out your age and that you're from England, that's it!"

Arthur's mouth formed an 'o.' He tapped his chin. "Hmm. Well, I'm attending university, that is, school for adults, here." Arthur had no idea what Alfred did or didn't know, so he attempted to clarify. The merman nodded in understanding. He continued. "I'm staying at my father's beachfront home this summer with my half-brother. Avoid him at all costs by the way, although I imagine he wouldn't be able to see you, if I am indeed the exception."

"Hahah, that bad?"

"He'd probably try to take you to his bed. The fact that you're a merman would just make him want to do it more," Arthur explained, grimacing in disgust. Alfred blinked in confusion, and then his eyes widened in realization.

"You mean like… have sex with me?" His face flooded with scarlet, and he gulped.

"Yes?" He hesitated, but reached over to gently pat him on the shoulder.

"But I-I've never," he began, stuttering in embarrassment, "I mean you don't do that with someone unless you're really serious! Like when you've decided to be their life mate!"

"It's not that I agree or disagree but," Arthur began, his own face having bloomed red, "but is that how all of your people think?"

Alfred looked nonplussed, his blush having not faded at all. "Yes, of course. It's a ritual to seal a relationship."

It made sense; Arthur contemplated, that the merpeople may be a little old fashioned. They lived separately from humanity after all, and Arthur found it hard to believe that there were enormous underwater cities and huge advanced societies under Nantucket Sound. That was quite obviously not the case. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. It was… well… _endearing_.

"Sorry to make you uncomfortable then," Arthur apologized. "I won't bring up Francis again. He's hardly a pleasant topic of conversation anyway. But ah, I'm going to school to major in journalism. Which I suppose…." He paused. "The best way to describe it would be that I report the news. If something happens, I write it out and then everyone can find out."

Alfred nodded. "That makes sense." His cheeks had finally returned to their normal color. They were silent for a few moments, and Alfred began swishing his tail back and forth in the water, as if fidgeting. He was picking at his fingernails as well. "Hey uh- " He finally spoke.

"Yes?" Arthur looked directly at him.

"I'm a pretty awesome merman, right?" Alfred shot Arthur an enormous grin, his white teeth visible.

The Englishman rolled his eyes. "Honestly. You're the only one I've ever met, so how am I supposed to know?"

When Alfred spoke again, it was as if he hadn't even heard Arthur's sarcastic retort. He laughed. "That means you definitely want to spend more time with me!"

"That's not what I said!" Arthur snapped. "Idiot, did you not hear me at all? I said- "

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you. But you do want to meet up again, right?" Alfred cut in, and he was giving Arthur this look. It was half confident smile, half pleading eyes and all- rather cute. Damn.

His glanced away, avoiding Alfred's gaze. He could feel his face growing warm. "I—I guess I don't see the harm in it."

Alfred nearly leapt, his fin splashing out of the ocean and wetting the bottom of Arthur's shorts in the process. He pumped his fists and beamed, bright as all outlandish adjectives Arthur may have been considering. "Wow! Seriously. So cool! This is the greatest thing ever! I've always wanted to- "

"Calm down," Arthur interrupted, but without much bite. Instead, there was a tinge of amusement in his tone. "I promise you, I'm not that interesting. But if I am to you… I—ahem, I suppose there's no problem with indulging that. I'll gladly meet up with you again." Alfred's smile grew, if possible, and Arthur swore that the merman was about to hug him but had stopped himself.

"Awesome!" He crowed enthusiastically.

Arthur sighed inwardly. Well, it would make the days livelier, at least.

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**Notes:**

-This story takes place in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. To be more specific, it takes place in mid-cape, where the beaches face Nantucket Sound. I'm not sure if I'll ever name the village it takes place in, but it is Osterville.

-France visits Provincetown, which is on the other side of Cape Cod. It has a reputation as a gay village, and it's also a great place to go whale watching.

-England attends Harvard University. I debated this, because I felt it not a very creative choice. However, I was insistent that the story take place in Massachusetts, and Harvard's arts and humanities program is considered to be even more prestigious than Cambridge or Oxford in the UK. It seemed like the best choice for an overachiever like England.

-Lastly, a little bit about how I tried to set up the merpople. At heart, as much as I love fantasy, I am a massive marine biology nerd. I kind of wanted to set up a species that does, despite the magical aspects, make some amount of sense. Since the setting is just standard real life, I thought that would keep it down to earth. The merpeople in the story are completely consistent with marine mammal life except for one large exception- gills. There was no real way I felt I could get around this, so think of it as an anomaly. The platypus lays eggs, but is still a mammal; that kind of thing. As for him having gills AND being able to breathe above water, there are several types of fish with this ability. Outside of that, the set up of their fins is identical to a dolphin (two pectorals where the arms are, a fluke, and although it hasn't been described yet, a small dorsal on his lower tail). His skin is not very cold, despite living in cool water, because marine mammals have a far higher body temperature than human beings. His 'fishy parts' are not scaly, but smooth and rubbery. The manner in which they speak is also similar, although of course, the merpeople's language is more complex, certainly as complex as a human language. The reason that America sounds so unusual when he speaks is because his voice box isn't quite made for speaking like human beings do. He's mimicking their sounds, and he understands their language, but it's difficult for him to do it exactly right.

As for them appearing as dolphins, the affinity with humans was the deciding factor. In many forms of mythology, merpeople have a natural curiosity toward humans. Dolphins are similar. Seals (the other animal I considered), not so much. Dolphins also have an extremely worldwide range, so they can be pretty much anywhere.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Three fic updates in a row. Hopefully I can keep this up! :D! I have some characters in this chapter that don't have canon human names.

**Derek**- Denmark  
**Nikolas**- Norway  
**Ingimar**- Iceland  
**Katyusha**- Ukraine

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**Cerulean**

_Chapter Two_

By Everything is Magic

* * *

"Hey, tell me about shoes, okay?" Alfred queried, shifting excitedly on the edge of the boat. Arthur's eyebrows rose. Mid-afternoon had turned into late afternoon, and according to Arthur's (luckily waterproof) watch, he'd been chatting with the merman for a solid two hours. Alfred's curiosity was limitless. He never ran out of things to babble about, questions to ask, and discoveries to make.

Arthur noticed that Alfred was staring rather intently at the pair of deck shoes that he'd slid under the bench. This was far from the first trivial item Alfred had asked him about, so he shook his head and snatched the shoes from where they had been stashed. "Well err… they go on your feet."

Alfred took the shoes from his grasp. "I know that!" He placed a shoe on each hand, mimicking the movement of walking with them. "But why do you wear them? I mean, don't your toes help you with balance and everything? I can't imagine wearing something over the end of my fluke. It would really slow me down!"

Arthur bit his lip and sighed. "Don't be daft. We don't float around up here like you do in the water. We walk around on hard ground, and it's easy to hurt yourself if you don't wear shoes."

Alfred rested the shoes atop his fin, picking at the leather that made up their upper part. "For protecting your feet then? Aren't socks enough to do that?"

"No, of course not. Socks are soft. They don't protect you well at all…"

The merman looked truly boggled now as he played with the shoes, investigating the rubber soles. "Then why wear both of the---"

Alfred's question was interrupted by a loud splash. He clicked quietly under his breath, and Arthur half wondered if he'd just cursed in mermish. Alfred was staring straight forward. He'd dropped the shoes to his side. Arthur followed his gaze, and it landed on _another_ blasted merman.

His golden hair was slightly longer than Alfred's, but otherwise, he looked almost identical. "…Your brother?"

Alfred nodded. "Hey Matthew!" He shouted. Matthew shot the duo a frightened look and did not come closer. Arthur caught a quick glimpse of his tail, which had peeked out of the water. It was similar in color to his brother's, but with a tinge of violet to it.

"Alfred, what are you doing?" He yelled back. "How are you even----"

The merman next to him beamed. "This is Arthur. He can see us Matthew, he can_ see_ us! It's so amazing. Swim over here, come on!"

Matthew's expression was wary, but he swam toward the yacht nonetheless. He stopped about a meter away, refusing to close the distance. "Alfred, are you crazy? Humans can't find out about us. It's a disaster waiting to happen."

"Um, hallo, I'm right here," Arthur cut in. "No use talking about me as if I'm not here."

Up close, Arthur noticed more differences between Alfred and his twin. Matthew's features were slightly softer, more rounded, and his eyes were a shade different. He also did not speak English as well. If Arthur thought the way that Alfred formed his words was strange, it was nothing compared to how Matthew struggled to wrap his mouth around the sounds of the English language. But considering Alfred's intense interest in everything human, he wondered if Alfred was the exception, if he spoke the language better than his family. He'd have to bring it up with him.

Alfred shot his brother a reassuring grin. "Arthur is awesome. I've been talking to him most of the afternoon. He's cool, Matthew."

Arthur's cheeks pinked at the compliment. Matthew was investigating him now, he could tell. After about half a minute, he sighed in resignation. "But how can he see you? Alfred, you didn't let your--- disguise down, did you?"

He shook his head vehemently. "No way! Nikolas still hasn't taught me how to do that."

"Probably because he knows you'd do it all the time," Matthew replied. Alfred just laughed. "Anyway, we need to go, brother."

Alfred rested his elbow on his fin, then his chin in his hand. He pouted. "Meeting with Ivan's pod tonight, right?"

Matthew scratched the back of his head and glanced away, his face lightly flushed. "It's about me and Katyusha…"

The other merman bounced, leaning forward, bright eyes and wide smile. "Are you and Katyusha…"

Matthew nodded. Alfred's grin grew. "That's great! Amazing!"

"Thank you." He paused. "When we leave the meeting we can talk about… this."

Arthur averted his eyes between the two, completely lost to whatever the bloody hell they were discussing. He recalled that Katyusha was Matthew's girlfriend, but he hadn't a clue what was going on otherwise. It was slightly irritating. Before he could speak up, Alfred slapped him on the shoulder.

"Before we go though, you've got to be formally introduced to Arthur!" The Englishman felt Alfred nudge him with his elbow.

"All right." Arthur held out his hand. "I'm Arthur Kirkland. Pleased to meet you, Matthew."

Hesitantly, Matthew reached forward and took his hand, shaking it briefly before pulling away. "Matthew, of Berwald and Tino's pod. I'm Alfred's twin brother."

"He's the younger one," Alfred supplied. "Hey Matthew, can you leave us alone for a second? I'll be right with you."

"Okay…" he agreed, reluctantly. Matthew turned around and swam away, still in vision but out of earshot and with his back turned to the pair.

Alfred fidgeted, twiddling his fingers. "Sorry I've got to go," he said.

"It's quite all right," Arthur replied.

"We're definitely going to see each other again though!" It was a statement, not a question.

Arthur shrugged. "If that's what you want. I've told you that it's fine."

Alfred beamed, placing an arm around Arthur's back in a warm gesture. "Great. You going to be out here tomorrow?"

Arthur nodded, swallowing thickly. If this wasn't a bloody merman, it would be a bit like a date; a date that Alfred was _very _enthusiastic to go on. To be honest though, the entire not being human thing aside, Alfred was likely more interested in _what_ he was than _who_ he was. Who was he to deny him though? He was buoyant and enthusiastic to the point of being slightly obnoxious, but he was friendly enough, and there was no real reason not to indulge his curiosity. His company was honestly not bad, and being that he spent so much of his time alone, well, he had to admit that talking to someone was a bit pleasant.

"Perhaps we should meet up somewhere?"

"Well there's a small underwater--- "

"Idiot. I can't exactly see underwater, so I can't go by that." He rolled his eyes. "How about right at the very end of the spit in East Bay? It's not far from where I'm living."

Alfred furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, before smiling. "Yeah, I know where that is. Awesome. I'll be there!"

Arthur tapped his chin. "All right. Shall we meet at noon then? Er, mid-day," he corrected, for surely merpeople did not have clocks. Or perhaps they did. He had no blooming idea.

The other man glanced up, shielding his eyes from the sun. "When the sun is highest in the sky, right?"

"Yes, exactly."

Pushing his arms up and practically leaping, Alfred leapt back into the water. "I can't wait!" He laughed, dunking underwater for a moment and then coming up again, whipping his head back as he did so. Some of the droplets from his wet hair managed to hit Arthur. "Bring something cool, all right?"

"What do you want me to bring?"

Alfred lifted his shoulders. "I don't know. Just bring something."

Arthur sighed, but chuckled quietly nonetheless. "Very well then."

"Oh and…" Alfred glanced down into the water, dropping eye contact completely. Arthur could see his fin beneath the surface, swishing back and forth, as if in a nervous gesture. He was rubbing the fins on his arms as well. Eventually, he gave Arthur a weak smile, pushed his arms up on the side of the yacht and leaned forward, so he was only inches from the other man.

And then he closed the distance between them, planting a chaste kiss on Arthur's cheek. He pulled away quickly, cheeks stained scarlet. "Goodbye." He nodded, giving a small smile, and departing as quickly as he'd come.

* * *

The first thing Alfred was met with upon diving underwater was Matthew, joining him and swimming alongside him.

They swam in silence for several moments, until Matthew finally spoke. "I always figured it would be you, eh."

"Huh?" Alfred slowed down, glancing sidelong at his brother.

"I mean that if any of us were ever to meet up with a human, like the old stories, it would be you," Matthew explained.

Alfred shook his head. "They're not stories Matthew. All the stuff that Nikolas and Derek tell us? It's all part of our history!" He beamed.

They were almost at the bottom of the ocean, the white sand just meters away. "I guess so eh, but it seems so hard to believe, merpeople and humans living side by side like that; trading and forming alliances like they're just two different kingdoms. And all that magic…"

Alfred stretched his arms, and then flipped upside down in a somersault, landing on the ocean floor. "It's so amazing! Awesome. Can you imagine being able to discover everything there is to discover? All of the world's oceans and all of the cultures and---" He paused. "Back then, we could have, because if we couldn't have gotten there on our own--- "

"I'm pretty happy where I am to be honest, Alfred," Matthew interrupted. Following his gaze, Alfred spotted Katyusha in the distance, her pale yellow fin brushing the sand.

Alfred slapped his brother on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure Ivan will say it's all right. I know he's a bit of an ass, but it's not like Katyusha is wanting to marry _me_."

Matthew gulped and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure you're right, eh." He gave Alfred a wan smile and pushed off with his fins in Katyusha's direction.

The older twin watched him go, his mind already flitting back to his encounter above water with one Arthur Kirkland. His musings didn't get far though, because before his brother even reached his girlfriend, Alfred felt a sharp slap on his back. "Hey, Derek." He didn't even need to turn around. Derek had this habit of announcing his presence with a slightly too firm pat on the back.

Swimming the other way to face Derek, Alfred was met with the rest of his pod. Berwald had his arm around Tino, Nikolas was shooting Derek a glare, and Ingimar lingered in the back.

Alfred smiled. "Hey, you guys!"

Throughout his nineteen years, Alfred had met up with several pods; but there was no doubt his was most unusual. Pods usually consisted of merpeople related by blood, as well as merfolk who had married into the pod. Alfred's wasn't like that at all. He and Matthew and Ingimar and Nikolas were the only members that were related, both being pairs of brothers.

They were a bit of a patchwork group. Alfred and Matthew had both been orphaned at a young age, and taken in by Berwald and Tino. His adoptive parents had a unique story before they'd taken in the twins as well. They'd decided to marry young but had left their pods in the Baltic Sea when their families refused to approve their engagement.

Ingimar had still been a child when Nikolas and Derek had started traveling together, although he was still several years older than Alfred and Matthew. The two small groups had met up during a storm in the North Sea and had decided to form a pod soon after. Their journey across the Atlantic to American waters had occurred a year later. Alfred didn't remember living in the North Sea at all, so young was he.

But really, Alfred thought his family was awesome. He got along with all of them well, and his parents were really great and--- speaking of.

"Afternoon, Alfred," Tino said. He glided forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, leaning in. "Um, I know you don't like Ivan very much, and honestly, neither do I… but remember, for your brother's sake."

"Yeah yeah, I'll behave myself," Alfred grumbled.

Tino smiled. "Matthew is counting on us." The younger merman knew that a lot was riding on this meeting, so he nodded mutely. Tino didn't like Ivan much either, although most of the rest of the pod was more tolerant of him than Tino and Alfred were. Berwald sometimes mumbled negative comments about him, but Alfred suspected that was simply because Berwald was wary of anything that irritated Tino.

"I know," he stated.

The pod went quiet for a few moments, and then Derek spoke up. "So I had a great day! What did you all do?"

Trust Derek to break the silence with one of his random and out of place comments. He could hear Nikolas muttering 'moron' under his breath. Alfred shrugged, but then smiled widely.

"Today was really awesome, actually," he began, buoyantly. "I met this really cool human named Arthur and we---- "

"Ivan's here," Matthew's voice cut in, having swam up to the group silently (Matthew had this uncanny ability to remain unnoticed). Alfred deflated. His family hadn't looked remotely surprised at his mention of meeting a human, but then again, they had no idea that the human had met him _back_, actually being able to see him.

He pivoted around, swimming toward Ivan's pod with the rest of his family on him and Matthew's tail. They were all there with Katyusha: Natalia, Toris, Feliks, Eduard, and Raivis.

Alfred got along well with the rest of Ivan's pod, with the slight exception of Natalia. She was all right when her brother wasn't in the picture, if a bit dreary. But when Ivan was involved, she was scary, holding a deep and obsessive infatuation for her older brother. Alfred liked to avoid encountering that side of Natalia, although he did find it somewhat amusing, since it completely terrified Ivan. Eduard and Raivis were good friends, and Feliks was always hilarious.

Toris though, was his best friend. He caught a flash of Toris's green fin before he emerged from behind Feliks, and Alfred smiled, waving as he came into view.

Toris greeted him in return.

Ivan swam up in front of the pod, and Alfred bit his lip to hide a scowl. He and Ivan hadn't gotten along since the older merman's pod had moved into the area two years before. Alfred just didn't like him. Their personalities clashed, both dominating and strong, and most of all, Alfred disliked his relationship with Toris. Ivan was very possessive of Toris, more so than any other member of his pod. It made Alfred uneasy. Plus, he was a hero! And if Toris was at all being treated unfairly, it was his job to combat that injustice!

"Good evening!" Tino greeted cheerily, masking his dislike completely. Alfred wished he could be as good at it as his elder was. He had decided to just seal his lips and maybe… try to think of other things or something.

Like Arthur.

"'T's a nice n'ght." Berwald nodded.

Ivan leaned forward and shook the pair's hands. "Good day, comrades." He smiled. "So we're here about Matthew and Katyusha, yes?"

Tino and Berwald nodded. Matthew looked anxious, fidgeting with his hands and darting his eyes about. Across from him, Katyusha didn't look much better.

"Good then." His smile quirked up. "I'm surprised it is Matthew we are discussing before Alfred. Alfred is the older of the two, yes?"

"I'm only nineteen," Alfred snapped, and then berated himself. Ivan was attempting to bait him into an argument. _Calm down, calm down._ Toris was shooting him a sympathetic look. "I'm sure I'll find someone soon."

He took a deep breath and tried to distract himself again as Ivan babbled on. Ivan's tail was a russet brown red, and he was kind of like--- the biggest merman Alfred had ever seen. He was pretty sure that when humans saw Ivan, they saw a walrus, not a dolphin. Or at least that was his theory, and it amused him greatly.

But thinking about that made him want to laugh, which would look totally bad. So his mind went elsewhere, to Arthur.

He really, really wanted to be Arthur's friend. It wasn't hard to admit. Okay, he was a human, and that was an automatic plus. But Alfred liked talking to him. They were around the same age, and he was fun to watch, if unintentionally so. From the way he scowled to the way his eyebrows (which were really big!) furrowed to his weird accent. He wasn't entirely like any human that Alfred had ever observed.

And he could see him. His mind recalled Nikolas mentioning something about 'the sight,' an ability to see through magical disguises and concealments. Nikolas had said that it used to not be that uncommon, but now it was practically unheard of. _Certainly I haven't heard about it in my living memory_, he'd said.

Nikolas was the one of the pod who knew the most about the magic of the merfolk, which had been rendered almost obsolete by now. The only commonly used magic was their concealing spell. He had a deep affinity to the history of the merpeople, and his partner Derek was a direct descendant of the last great mermish king. When they talked about the past, about the long forgotten history of the merpeople and their magic and their legends, Alfred listened with rapt attention.

To him, it sounded like a dream.

Arthur was going to meet up with him again. Tomorrow! That definitely meant he wanted to be his friend, right? It was so amazing and exciting. He'd have to finish asking that question about shoes…

"M'Alfred?" Berwald cut into his thoughts. "Iv'n's speaking to you."

Alfred's eyes shot up to meet Ivan's violet gaze. "As I said, it's a good thing it is Matthew and not you, yes? I could not approve a union between you and dear sister."

He smiled, faking politeness. "You know what you said earlier about Matthew getting married before me?" He sighed. "You're right, that's kind of weird, huh? I mean I know I'm barely older than him, but he's the shy one and stuff…" Alfred chanced a glance over to Natalia. "But I was thinking, if Katyusha is getting married, that means that you're probably next, right? You're the second oldest, after all." Natalia's eyes flashed and Ivan shuddered, knowing exactly what was on her mind. She swam up next to him and linked her arm with her older brother's.

"I think you must be right, Alfred," Natalia replied curtly, tightening her hold on Ivan's arm.

Alfred smirked inwardly. This was going to be a long meeting, but at least now, he could make sure that Ivan wouldn't enjoy it either.

* * *

Arthur's eyes slid closed as he lay on the living room's leather couch. He'd returned from his trip out on the yacht two hours before and cooked himself up a delicious (if he did say so) dinner in the kitchen. Now he was relaxing, although his mind raced. If it hadn't been for the fact that Arthur did not come home from his day out on the sound with a massive sunburn, he'd have sworn he'd just fallen asleep on the yacht and had a very vivid dream about a golden haired merman. But really, there was no doubt that what had happened had actually happened, down to every last bit of it. An attractive young merman had most certainly sat on the edge of his yacht and investigated his body and spent hours talking with him and then---

Alfred had kissed him on the cheek.

He jolted his eyes open, not wanting to fall asleep.

It was a bloody expensive couch, no doubt, but despite the price, Arthur still found it irritating how whenever he'd nap on it, he'd wake up and have to peel himself off it, the leather sticking to his exposed skin.

His face was red in remembrance of the kiss, of Alfred tentatively leaning up, and then leaving before Arthur could even say anything. It was just a kiss on the cheek, he told himself. Probably, it was some sort of traditional goodbye. Then again, why get so flustered over a traditional goodbye?

Arthur's continued musing was halted by his phone ringing. He picked it up from the table, read 'Frog' on the caller ID screen, and flipped it open with a roll of his eyes. "Hello Francis, no I don't care what the hell you're doing in Provincetown."

"Arthur, you wound me," Francis replied, mocking hurt. "I know how it is. You are merely jealous and do not wish to discover even more things to be jealous of."

"Not even close," Arthur snapped, sitting up on the couch. "Do you have anything important to tell me?"

"I am just checking in, making sure you're not allowing yourself to be miserable and lonely."

"I'm not miserable and lonely at all," he grumbled. "I had quite a lovely day."

Francis chuckled. "Surely not as lovely as mine. I am at the Atlantic House…"

"The dance club?"

"Oui," he replied. "Believe it or not, Antonio actually managed to convince Lovino to come. I guess the idea of Antonio at a club with so many other attractive men was enough to make Lovino jealous enough to come."

"Mmm." Arthur took a sip of a glass of water he'd set on the table. "Good for them, and I imagine you're… honestly, I don't want to know."

"So what did you do today that was so lovely? Read a book?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "For your information I…" He paused, biting his lip. "I spent several hours on the yacht with a very attractive man!"

Francis laughed. "Did you find someone as interested in the weather as you?"

"No, that's not what we talked about at all!"

"Then surely you must be lying," Francis spoke louder, and Arthur could hear music blaring behind him. He must have reentered the main area of the club. "Or you are talking about a character in one of the books you are reading?"

Arthur slammed the glass down. "He's quite real! Blonde hair, blue eyes, a year younger than me. He's quite tall as well." Alfred had certainly looked tall, at least… or long? "His name is Alfred."

Francis faked a gasp. "Arthur, I know you are lonely, but are you sure you are not imagining things?"

The question was although annoying, almost humorous in its irony. No he was not imagining things, but--- well; it was certainly strange enough to be a figment of his imagination.

"Is it so hard to believe?" Arthur snapped. "Oh god forbid the one that doesn't hit on anything and everything that moves has someone who wants to spend time with him. Bloody hell, not everyone wants to hang out with a pervert like you."

And Alfred didn't, judging by his reaction to Arthur's description of Francis.

Arthur could _hear _Francis smirking. "Anyone in their right mind would."

"Shut the hell up. Oh, and I'm meeting up with him again tomorrow," he added.

"I believe you then. Good luck, my brother," he replied. "But you will have to introduce me sometime…"

Arthur cursed inwardly. How the bloody hell was he supposed to do that? He'd just acted like he was going on a date or something, blowing out of proportion and making his meeting with Alfred sound like something entirely different from what it was. Now Francis probably thought he had a potential boyfriend, and even if that _were_ the case, it's not like Francis could meet him anyway. Francis was going to think he was delusional, wasn't he?

But it was his own damn fault. He'd just had to rise up to that Frog's challenge. Francis was making fun of him, and instead of saying "why yes, I quite enjoyed my book," he'd made the decision to tell Francis something that would shock him to hear. He rubbed his forehead. "Listen Francis, I'm going to go. Goodbye." He hung up without even waiting for a reply.

Leaning forward, he grabbed his glass of water again, taking a gulp. On the coffee table next to the glass, was Arthur's digital camera. Arthur thought of wide blue eyes, brimming with curiosity and fascination, and a beaming smile and a voice that filled the air with questions.

He picked up the camera, running his fingers across it. At the very least, he knew what he was going to take for Alfred tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the delay in updates on this one. For some reason I struggled with this chapter a lot!

**Derek**- Denmark  
**Katyusha**- Ukraine

* * *

**Cerulean**

_Chapter Three_

By Everything is Magic

* * *

Shoes were nothing compared to what Arthur was showing him today.

Certainly, Alfred had made sure to follow up on his question about why humans needed to wear both shoes and socks. Arthur had explained that sometimes, they didn't wear both, only shoes, but it was necessary at times, to avoid excess sweatiness and blisters and other things that Alfred that did think sounded rather gross.

This camera though, was easily the coolest thing Alfred had ever seen. He'd heard the word before, spoken by tourists and boaters and the like, but he'd never really been able to figure out _what _exactly a camera was.

"All right, I'm going to count to three… one, two," Arthur began, camera held in front of his face. Alfred grinned waving an arm enthusiastically as he floated in the water. "Three."

A quiet clicking noise, and Arthur turned the camera around, showing Alfred the picture he'd just taken.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, as if it were the first time he'd seen it.

"Git! How many pictures do you want me to take?" Arthur grumbled. "Honestly, I'm going to fill up my memory card at this rate. You must have asked for about fifty… all of yourself, I might add. A bit full of yourself there."

Alfred pushed himself out of the water, joining Arthur on the back of the yacht. "It's just so amazing to see pictures of myself though! But geez, if it's such a problem, _fine_." He was pouting now.

Arthur sighed and shook his head. "I knew you'd like the camera, but I didn't know you'd like it this much."

He blinked at the human man. Was it really that surprising to him? Maybe since he'd lived with them all of his life, Arthur had no idea how wonderful the things his world created were.

Or it could be that Arthur was just too grumpy to realize how awesome these things were. Alfred frowned inwardly at this. That wasn't right at all! No one should be so cynical that they can't find wonder in something as great as this camera.

When he'd arrived at the spit, Arthur had already been waiting, much to Alfred's happiness. After a short discussion, they'd made the decision to drive the boat out a bit further from the bay, in order to isolate themselves more. That had been over an hour ago.

Okay, so maybe he _had _spent a pretty long time asking for pictures. Glancing over at the man, Alfred smiled. "How about I take some pictures of you!"

It wasn't a question. Alfred snatched the camera from Arthur's hands before he could even respond. Inhaling sharply, Arthur jerked it back. "You've got to dry your hands first, it's not waterproof!"

Blinking in confusion for a moment, Alfred nodded, and then reached over and wiped his hands on the fabric of Arthur's shorts.

"Idiot!" Arthur snapped, but he gave the camera back to Alfred. "Why do you want to take pictures of me anyway?"

Alfred blinked owlishly. "I wanna use your camera, and since you took pictures of me, I thought I'd take some of you."

Nodding, Arthur shifted awkwardly. "All right then. Get it over with."

He beamed, moving the camera so he could see Arthur in the small screen. "Awesome! On three, smile! One, two… three!" Alfred clicked the button and waited for it to capture the image.

"Well?" He raised his prominent eyebrows.

Alfred bit his lip into a pout and squinted at the image on the camera. "Arthur, I thought you said you were supposed to smile in photographs…"

Flushing lightly, Arthur's mouth formed an 'o.' "Not everyone has a big idiotic smile they can just turn on like a light switch!"

Alfred scrunched up his nose and frowned. "Well sorry that I'm happy? Not everyone is grouchy like you."

Arthur scoffed and crossed his arms. "And not everyone is a moron like you."

The merman sighed, swishing the end of his fin in the cool water. "Yeah, whatever. You're the one who told me to smile…"

Arthur was about to retort, but his mouth dropped for a moment. "Yes well… I suppose I did but…" He breathed out a puff of air. "Very well. Take the damn picture again."

Alfred's blue eyes sparkled in delight as he began the countdown once more. "One, two, three. Smile!"

The result this time was slightly better, Alfred observed. He pursed his lips and scratched his cheek as he surveyed the photograph. Arthur was smiling. Sort of. A slight forced quirk of the mouth that rather resembled a grimace as much as it did a smile.

Why was it so hard for him to smile? Arthur was so weird. He knew most humans didn't act like Arthur. At least, the ones he saw out on their boats were usually pretty jovial.

They also, far more often than not had other people with them, unlike Arthur, who came out in the yacht by himself. Alfred sighed inwardly, gazing up at the sky and wrapping his fingers around the camera. Pleasantly warm breezes skimmed across the top of the waves, causing the boat to rock gently.

"Hey Arthur, don't you have any friends?"

Arthur blinked, nonplussed. "Excuse me?"

He hadn't really _meant _for that to come out. The thought had no sooner crossed his mind then he spoke it. _Oops?_

Alfred gulped, scratching the back of his head nervously. "You know… I just mean--- "

"It's none of your business, you tosser!" Arthur snapped, brows furrowing downward.

"Tosser…?"

"It_ also_ means idiot," Arthur retorted. He crossed his arms and leaned forward. "But I suppose…" his voice grew softer, "well I suppose that I don't… have a lot of close friends, no." He inhaled sharply. "Don't get me wrong though! It's fine enough. Most people my age aren't interested in the same things I am, or are rather unpleasant company or…" He trailed off.

Alfred rested a hand atop Arthur's shoulder, startling him. "Lucky I'm here then, huh?"

"Wha--- " Arthur's cheeks flushed high.

"To be your friend, right?" Alfred clarified, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. His smile was bright to the point of blinding, and his eyes brimmed, expectantly.

Arthur felt his face redden more. "That is---" he paused, "I mean to say that I'm not going to just be your friend just because you think I'm fun to poke at!"

Alfred's expression dropped at this. "That's not--- I mean it's awesome that you're human and all, but I'd still want to be your friend if you were… you know…" He scratched the back of his neck, nervously averting his eyes. "If you were a merman, I mean."

The cry of a seabird overhead was the only thing that pierced the silence as Arthur processed Alfred's words. It shocked him, honestly. He was sure that Alfred was only interested in spending time with him as means to discover more about the human world. But… Alfred had come across quite genuine in his statement to the contrary and well, it's not as if he didn't in a way, enjoy the company of the merman. And not just because he was bloody attractive, although that didn't help.

He was interrupted by the sound of Alfred reaching down to splash his tail and arms with water. Alfred was pointedly looking away, his cheeks dusted light pink.

Arthur swallowed thickly. "All right. Friends then…" His lips quirked up in a small, almost unnoticeable smile. "Although I suppose we already were, really."

Alfred beamed, and excitedly, he wrapped his arm around the other man's shoulder and squeezed. Arthur flushed hot at this, but didn't pull away.

"G-give me the camera, all right?"

He handed Arthur the camera, his expression curious. "Huh?"

"On three then," Arthur said, holding the camera high up in front of them. "One, two, three."

Arthur pushed the button, waiting a moment before bringing the camera back down and turning it around to show the screen to Alfred.

A slightly sunburned human man wearing a white shirt and khaki shorts looked back at him, next to a delighted looking merman, who was pressed flush to the human's side. _Wow!_ He'd managed to get a picture of both of them.

Arthur was actually smiling this time. It wasn't the huge, brilliant smile that Alfred wore, but it was genuine, more so than anything else Alfred had seen from him before. He thought it was really, really awesome. Even better than his toes!

"Amazing!" Alfred proclaimed. "And you're even smiling." He let go of Arthur's shoulder and leaned over in front of him, gaining a closer look at the image on the screen.

Arthur cleared his throat and turned the camera off. "Yes well…"

Alfred was still leaning over, his elbow resting atop Arthur's leg. The fin on his arm was pressing against Arthur's wrist. The merman was… oddly touchy feely. He wasn't sure if it was because merpeople were more comfortable with casual contact, or if it was just Alfred. Arthur had an inkling of a feeling that it _was_ just Alfred.

After all, why in the world would merpeople not understand the concept of personal space?

But blast it all, while Arthur would normally have immediately slapped away anyone who tried to casually touch him like Alfred always did, he found himself not too chagrined.

It was nice to have actually garnered the attention of another man, even if it was as a friend.

"What is it?"

He'd gotten used to the odd way that Alfred inflected his words. He didn't much notice it at all anymore. It helped that he babbled almost incessantly. And, he didn't feel the need to stop himself from staring at Alfred's rather… unusual anatomy any longer, instead finding himself focused more often than not, on his face; his vivid eyes, his golden hair, his ever-present smile. Showing up somewhere with him on his arm would surely show Francis, but that wasn't precisely possible.

Arthur had never considered himself particularly attractive. He was a bit small in stature, with scruffy hair that he could never get to stay put and eyebrows that were, he thought, somewhat of an eyesore.

However, Francis insisted (although he was hardly about to praise Arthur's appearance), that it was his personality that turned people off of him. Francis was a wanker and had just about the least pleasant personality Arthur could imagine, but--- well--- it was true that the few dates he'd gone on, he'd ended up not exactly charming the men he'd been with.

But Alfred liked him. Seemingly, he even didn't mind his personality, if he wanted to be his friend. He'd suck it up and ask him on a proper date if not for two very big problems; one, being that he had no idea if Alfred even _liked _men, and two, being the whole not human thing.

It's not as if that could work out anyway.

"I um… I'm actually feeling a bit peckish," Arthur finally spoke, attempting to change the subject, although he really _didn't _feel well.

"Peckish?" Alfred still had his elbow on Arthur's knee.

"Um, it means not well. I believe I must just be hungry. I didn't think to bring anything with me today," he elucidated.

The merman cocked his head to the side and blinked, pulling his elbow off of Arthur. "D'you want me to catch you something?"

"Excuse me?"

"A fish or… whatever you'd like to eat. I could try to get some shellfish. I kind of like mixing them together," Alfred explained, grinning.

"Is that what you eat?" In truth, Arthur realized, he knew so little about how Alfred lived. He nodded. "Uncooked, I suppose."

"Huh?"

"Well you'd have no way to cook them underwater, so of course not," Arthur answered his own question. "I'm actually allergic to shellfish, so I'll have to pass," he lied. "I was thinking about going back to my house."

"O-oh," Alfred sighed, looking dejected. Arthur's eyes widened. Was he really… that disappointed?

His cheeks bloomed pink and he took a deep breath. "You know, my… home is on a private beach, so if you'd… ah… like to follow me…"

The merman brightened immediately. "Really? I could come back with you?"

"It… would make it easier to meet if you knew where I lived," Arthur clarified, voice quiet. "There's even a dock, so I could come out to you and---" He coughed.

Alfred whooped, causing Arthur to almost drop the camera in shock. He punched the air and laughed vibrantly, buoyant with excitement.

Arthur could not help but chuckle lightly. "All right. I'll take you back a way that doesn't usually have a lot of boat traffic. I suppose you'd remember the way better if you followed me?"

He nodded, leaping into the water with a splash. "Yeah! I'll follow close behind!"

"Very well," he smiled, just a slight one, back at Alfred, headed up to the front of the yacht, and began to drive back to the beach house.

* * *

Alfred was growing impatient. He'd never been a very patient person, at least, according to many around him, Tino and Berwald included. But Arthur had been gone way too long. They'd arrived at Arthur's house, and after docking his boat, he'd told Alfred that he was 'going inside to get a bite to eat and would come back, if you wish to stay.'

Of course he wished to stay. He could make out Arthur's house from the end of the dock, where he was floating. It was bigger than most of the beach houses he'd spotted on the shores before, and the front porch led out directly onto the sandy shore.

He imagined what it would be like to go inside Arthur's house, to discover how he lived when he wasn't out by himself on a boat. What kind of things were there inside? Alfred didn't have a home, save the area of the Atlantic he lived in. The closest thing he had to one was a natural nook in a small canyon, which his pod generally slept in. And it's not like he owned much of anything, like Arthur inevitably did.

He'd been told by Derek, of undersea castles where mermish kings and queens used to rule; of possessions in the form of pearls and treasures, used to trade with human kingdoms. Alfred had found pearls before. He wondered if they were still considered valuable to humans…

He wondered what Arthur would think of them.

A clatter of footsteps informed him of Arthur's approach. Alfred perked up, smiling, as the human approached.

"Sorry it took so long," Arthur said, once he'd reached the end of the dock. He bent his knees into a crouching position, resting his hands between his legs. "I was trying to cook something and I ah--- well there was a small fire." His cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "So I just made a sandwich."

Alfred had seen sandwiches before, them being something that boaters commonly brought out to eat. He nodded. "It's okay. Uh, you feeling better now?"

Arthur nodded, sitting down entirely, his legs dangling off the side of the wooden dock. "I feel a bit rude, not offering you anything to eat."

The merman waved his hand dismissively. "Nah, I'm full. Tino caught this huge bonito today. But you definitely have to bring me something next time!"

"So demanding…"

"Hey, I offered you something didn't I?"

Arthur laughed quietly. "Fair enough then. I'll bring you some, ah 'human food' next time we meet."

Alfred grinned. "Great!"

The Englishman slipped off his deck shoes and let his feet dangle in the water. Alfred was resting his head on his arms, which were pressed flat against the dock. "Ah, I meant to ask you Alfred… how was your meeting last night, the one you had to leave for?"

Alfred's eyes widened, enthused that Arthur was interested. "It went as awesome as it could. Matthew didn't even come back to the pod last night, even though he said he wanted to talk to me. Went off with Katyusha…" He wrinkled his nose. "I really hate Ivan though."

"Ivan?"

"He's the leader of the other pod that lives in this area," Alfred explained. "But Matthew wants to marry Katyusha, his older sister, so I had to pretend not to hate him during the meeting."

Arthur leaned forward slightly. "Why do you not like this Ivan?" He scratched the side of his face. "You don't have to tell me but---"

"Are you kidding? The more people who know how much Ivan sucks, the better…"

* * *

It was evening.

By now Alfred was sitting on the dock with Arthur, his fin bent underneath him as opposed to dangling over the edge. An hour ago, Arthur had gone inside to retrieve sandwiches, as Alfred had finally grown hungry. The merman was quick to note that this 'totally didn't count,' and he still had to bring him something 'really awesome' to eat next time they met.

But they'd talked and chatted and been together for, Arthur looked at his watch, about eight hours, ever since noon.

If this were to be a date, it would certainly be a very long date. Alfred was talking now about a pod he'd met last year, a rather fun-loving group of merpeople from down near Australia. "They'd decided to swim around the entire world and visit every ocean," he explained.

"Sounds like an adventure," Arthur replied.

Alfred looked skyward, smiling wistfully. "Yeah, I wish I could have gone. Imagine what kind of heroic things I could have done!"

He rolled his eyes. "No doubt."

When Arthur had gone inside to make the sandwiches, he'd also snatched Alfred a towel. He figured that instead of having to constantly reach down in the water and wet himself, having a wet towel right beside him would make things easier for him. Alfred was rubbing the towel on his fin right now.

When he was done, he looked right at Arthur. In the starlight, his blue eyes almost shone brighter. Arthur swallowed thickly. "We've spent a lot of time together, haven't we?"

"Yeah, we have," he paused. "You know uh, for a while… I kind of thought maybe I had a crush on one of the guys in that pod. But I realized… not really… still it kind of…"

Why was he telling him this? Arthur considered. It felt a bit--- _he said guy, didn't he?_ _So Alfred…_ His heart sped up. Well, that was perhaps, one obstacle down. His cheeks were heating up now, under Alfred's intent stare.

"Never mind," Alfred laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "I don't even know why I told you that."

"It's… all right," Arthur assured him, his throat feeling dry. "I suppose I---I've never really been in love before myself, although… that's not to say I'm opposed to the idea." He averted his eyes from Alfred's vivid blue gaze.

"Y-yeah… same…" Alfred replied, almost a whisper.

"D-don't get me wrong, I'm hardly some idiot waiting for it! I've got a lot going for me. My education and my--- future and…"

"Me too! Uh, totally. Minus the… school thing and the journalism stuff but, definitely," Alfred agreed, his cheeks flushing as he looked away.

Arthur nodded firmly. "Of course. Absolutely."

Silence fell between them, both of them looking anywhere but at each other.

Finally, Alfred coughed. "Hey, it's getting late so… I'd better go huh?"

Arthur fought a frown, because it's not as if he was disappointed or anything. "That makes sense. I'm sure your family is wondering why you've been gone so long."

"Yeah, probably." Alfred shrugged. "But they are pretty used to me wandering off."

Arthur chuckled. "That… honestly does not surprise me one bit."

The merman grinned. "There's just so many adventures to have, you know?"

"I… suppose there are."

Alfred shifted, so his fin was no longer under him. Now it dangled in the water. "So uh… what are you doing tomorrow?"

Arthur's green eyes grew large. "Do you honestly plan on seeing me every day?"

Alfred glanced up at the stars, bright in the summer sky. "Yeah sure, why not?"

"W-well I'm not sure if it's possible to meet with you every single day but…" Arthur was blushing again, he just knew it. "Tomorrow would be all right. Francis comes home though, so we'll have to avoid him. Come at sundown, all right?"

"Sounds great!" He nodded. He leapt into the water, eliciting a by now, familiar, splash. Just like the first time, he pushed himself back up with his arms and leaned forward, his cheeks blooming scarlet. Was he really going to--- do it again?

Quickly, he pressed his lips to Arthur's other cheek, the one he hadn't kissed the time before. "See you, Arthur!" he rushed out, before disappearing beneath the water.

"Alfred, wait!" Arthur finally managed to call out, once the lump in his throat had dissipated. But by then, Alfred had swum far out of hearing distance. "Wh-why do you keep doing that, you absolute git?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** So I went out of town right after my last fic update, and then, upon returning, got super sick for like three weeks. Ack! Hopefully updates will be back to normal now...

**Nikolas**- Norway

**Katyusha**- Ukraine

* * *

**Cerulean**

_Chapter Four_

By Everything is Magic

* * *

Alfred whistled out a cheer as the fluke of his tail made contact with the ball, sending it flying through the water and into the rock circle perfectly.

He raised his arms, pumping one fist in triumph, and then turned next to him, where a brown-haired merman floated. "Pretty awesome huh, Toris?" he asked, his grin wide with anticipation.

Toris laughed lightly, gliding over and picking up the 'ball,' which was actually a heavy rock wrapped in several layers of seaweed to soften it. "You're definitely the best I've ever seen at this game, Alfred."

Alfred spun around once and sat on the sand, catching the ball when Toris threw it gently. "Well yeah, I mean… I did make it up." He tapped his chin. "Still haven't thought of a name for it yet. I wonder if humans have any games that are at all like this…"

Toris sat down next to him, his pale green fin swishing in the white sand. "Maybe…"

Alfred nodded. It was early afternoon; he could see the sun shining down into the depths. Boats floated by far above sometimes, and schools of fish flitted over them as well.

"I should find out!" Alfred exclaimed.

Toris chuckled at this, shaking his head. "You and your humans…"

Alfred bit his lip. In truth, he'd kind of sort of brought Toris out so he could talk to him about Arthur. He'd been wanting to spend some time with his best friend anyway, having not seen him much the past few days.

But he felt weird talking to Matthew about Arthur. It wasn't that he thought Matthew would get angry about it. Matthew might have been irked at first, but Alfred had a feeling that it was more because he was nervous about the meeting with Ivan than anything else.

It was more, well, something he couldn't exactly pinpoint. The idea of discussing Arthur with Matthew of all people felt… awkward, as if it were something you just didn't really talk about with your _brother_. Toris was the more comfortable option, definitely.

"It's not just humans, Toris," Alfred replied. "It's… everything! You know that." He was tossing the ball back and forth from hand to hand.

Toris just shrugged and pushed a wisp of hair out of his face. "Yes I know."

Alfred put the ball down and leaned back. "But you know what? I _can _actually ask someone now!"

"Wh-what do you mean by that?"

"About the ball game." He leaned over, as if about to tell Toris a great secret. "See… I've actually been _talking _to a human."

The other merman blinked in bewilderment. "Really now?"

"Yes!" Alfred exclaimed. "We met two days ago. We talked for a long time, and then yesterday we spent all day together! His name is Arthur and- "

His blue eyes were wide, and he was gesturing animatedly with his hands. Toris elicited a noise of shock. "Wait, you mean you actually _talked _to a human?" His hand hovered over his mouth.

Alfred bounced off the sand. "Awesome, huh? It's amazing, Toris… so many things I've already learned, and he's actually pretty cool! I mean he's sort of grumpy, but he's- I don't know, I really like him!" He blinked owlishly and went silent for a moment. "Oh hey wait! You… just thought when I first said I'd spoken to a human, that it was… well under disguise?"

Toris nodded. "Yes, Alfred. You've done it before, pretended you really were just a dolphin so the boaters would talk to you and pay attention to you."

Alfred laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess I have. But that's because it was the closest I could get…" He grinned. "But not anymore! Arthur can see through it. He sees me. It's… the coolest thing ever!" his voice rose in pitch as he spoke.

The other merman bit his lip, a nervous expression on his face. "That's really… unusual, that someone has the sight like that."

"Yeah, Nikolas said he hasn't heard of it happening in his lifetime at all."

"Then is this… Arthur fairly old, older than Nikolas?"

Alfred shook his head vigorously. "He's my age! Well a little bit older, but not much."

Toris caught a fond smile on Alfred's lips out of the corner of his eye, and he knew he wasn't imagining the light blush on his cheeks either. _The same age, huh?_ Toris fretted inwardly. His best friend had always been an adventurer, to a ridiculous degree, even. Ever since they'd met, he'd been dragged on quest after quest, sometimes barely escaping danger. He remembered a spring ago, when they, along with Matthew, had swum out to the Sargasso Sea together to watch eel hatchings. They'd nearly gotten lost, going as far as an island called Bermuda before they managed to turn around and make the long trek home.

If anyone else in their two pods had met a human, Toris would have been shocked, but not concerned. The masking magic protected them from being discovered by humans, but one human seeing them couldn't be very harmful. It's not as if they could prove their existence to others unless the spell was removed.

But Alfred, endlessly curious Alfred, was another thing entirely. He half expected, judging by that fond smile, that Alfred was already utterly infatuated with the idea of Arthur.

This was wherein the problem stood. Toris wondered if Alfred would fall for _any_ human who could see him, as long as they were of similar age and were kind to him. It appeared that Arthur was both.

"He took me to his home! Well, he has his own beach… and a dock that leads out to the ocean," Alfred began again, enthusiasm never ebbing and his arms moving in wide motions. "And he's from London. That's in England. He's got an accent and… uses lots of weird words I've never heard."

"He sounds very nice," Toris replied, and then pressed further, "What does he look like?"

"Well uh, he's pretty cu-" His cheeks flushed crimson. "I mean, he's got short blonde hair and uh, green eyes and sort of… really big eyebrows?"

Alfred closed his eyes, willing his face to cool down. "Say, Toris?" he laughed, awkward. "How are you and Feliks? I mean did you… did Ivan get on your case at all the other night?"

Toris's eyebrows rose at the sudden subject change, although considering what it appeared that Alfred _had_ almost said, he wasn't surprised that it had occurred. "You mean when we stayed out late? He… didn't say anything. I think he was too preoccupied with what Matthew and Katyusha were doing."

The blonde merman wrinkled his nose. "I _so_ do not want to know what my brother was doing with his fiancée."

Toris chuckled. "That makes sense. In any case, it wasn't a problem…"

Silence settled between the pair for a couple of minutes, before Alfred finally broke it. "Hey Toris?"

"Yes?"

"What do you know about pearls?"

"As much as anyone else, I guess." He paused. "Oh, and that Feliks wants me to find him a pink one."

Alfred nodded, before speaking again, "Do you have any idea if they're still considered valuable to humans?"

* * *

This was, without a doubt, the worst afternoon since the beginning of Arthur's summer break. Upon returning home after nabbing a bite for lunch, he'd discovered that not only had Francis arrived home (which he'd expected), but that he had brought Gilbert and Antonio along with him. Antonio's boyfriend-in-denial, Lovino, had come as well.

He knew it was bloody awful when he felt that the perpetually angry Lovino was the best company of the lot.

Bollocks. Francis was sitting down next to him right now, after passing a bottle of beer to Gilbert (who had his dirty feet resting on the table Arthur had just cleaned!). Antonio was attempting to lure his boyfriend out onto the beach for a walk, but Lovino would have none of it. Arthur knew that the young Italian would relent and agree to go with him eventually.

And there was a feeling of dread in Arthur's stomach, because he just knew that Francis was going to bring up Alfred. No doubt when all his obnoxious friends were still there, so he could be further embarrassed. With a huff and a curse, Arthur pushed himself off the couch and left the room for the kitchen.

He reached in the pantry and picked out a favorite tea, turning on the stove to heat up the kettle. He made a mental note, as he always did, to ask his Mum to bring a spare electric kettle when she visited later that summer.

Tuning out Gilbert's raucous laughter from the living room (Francis had likely just told a crass joke or story), he washed his favorite teacup out and stood beside the stove in wait.

The laughter grew louder. He furrowed his brows downward and winced. Gilbert had the most god-awful laugh in the world, he swore. And now it was combined with Francis's, which was only not as bad because it wasn't as loud.

With an indignant huff, Arthur stormed out of the kitchen. "Do you mind terribly not splitting my eardrums with your idiocy?" he shouted.

Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio, who was hovering behind the couch, just looked at him and the volume of their laughter rose even more. For Christ's sake, they were pointing at him now.

He spotted something in Gilbert's hand and squinted a bit to make out what it was.

Oh bloody hell. It was his _camera_.

"You really like dolphins, don't you?" Gilbert asked, snickering.

Arthur crossed the room the rest of the way, snatching the camera from his hand with a sharp glare. "I fail to see what's so funny." So they_ did_ see a dolphin then. He assumed that they would, that only to him, it would appear as Alfred in the pictures.

Well damn.

Although, he supposed that it was good in a sense. As much as it would be nice to show Francis that there was a rather lovely looking young man spending time with him, he'd feel like quite a git if he revealed Alfred to someone without his permission.

Francis grinned, mischievous. "Arthur, according to you, you went on a date with a dashing young man named Alfred yesterday, correct?"

Arthur flushed scarlet. "Y-yes, we spent the entire day together."

Francis leaned languidly over the couch, his grin turning into a smirk. "Well these photos are from yesterday, oui? They are labeled as such on the camera…."

"Yes they are. What in the hell are you getting at?" He stiffened, jutting his chin out, resolute.

Antonio and Gilbert stifled more laughter. "Either this Alfred is so ugly then, that you refused to take a picture of him, or you are in fact, in love with a dolphin. A dolphin? Even I would not- "

"Shut it!"

"Although I did once read that dolphins can be sexually attracted to hu-"

He was interrupted by Arthur's hands around his neck. "Belt up, Frog!"

Francis's blue eyes still sparkled with mischief, despite having his air supply cut off.

"He's just camera shy, all right?" Arthur explained, which he knew was an awful explanation. Francis knew him, after all. He would have, if indeed he were a camera shy date, at least snapped a discreet side shot, just to show Francis that Alfred _did_ exist.

Francis managed to worm out of Arthur's grip and exhaled in relief. "I do not believe you! I knew that your 'date' sounded too good to be true… for you, at least."

"Luckily I found this camera, haha," Gilbert cut in.

"There's no recent calls on his phone either," Antonio supplied, glancing at Arthur's cell. "Except Francis and… 'Mum.'"

"Oui, and we do not have a home phone here…"

Arthur caught Lovino out of the corner of his eye. He was standing by the sliding glass door, impatient, no doubt, to start the walk with Antonio that he'd so vigorously protested.

"He didn't call," Arthur explained, his face bright red in embarrassment. He nabbed the phone from Antonio, stuffing it in his pocket. "We planned to meet up the previous day, no need for him to."

Francis gave him a firm look. "Mon frère, provide proof, and I shall believe you. As it is though? I call…"

"BULLSHIT!" Gilbert interrupted, taking a swig of his beer and barking out a laugh.

"Ahh, I have to agree," Antonio said.

Arthur gritted his teeth. "_Antonio_, your boyfriend is clearly waiting for you, so why don't you- "

The fire alarm went off. In the midst of his argument with Francis and his friends, he had completely missed the whistling kettle. And now…

Shit! He ran into the kitchen, grabbing a stool along the way so he could reach up and shut off the fire alarm.

Loud laughter followed him, and his cheeks burned in shame.

* * *

Alfred rolled the pearl in his hand, its iridescence playing in the sunlight that shone down into the depths. It was the biggest one he had and the most luminescent as well. He didn't have many possessions, but he did have a small collection of items that he'd acquired on his adventures, kept buried under a rock in the cove he often slept in. There were a few pearls, but this one; it was undoubtedly the most awesome.

Toris was hovering behind him, and Alfred shot his best friend a wide grin. "I guess I still don't know if they're valuable to humans, but it's kind of cool, huh? I mean they're not that easy to find, and it looks pretty nice. I think that if he's showing me all these awesome things, I should totally do something."

"That's nice of you, Alfred," Toris replied, a small smile on his lips. "I'm sure… Arthur will appreciate it."

"Yeah, plus he promised that he'd give me something human to eat next time. So I know that this probably isn't as cool as that, but I'm pretty awesome, so maybe the fact that it's from me will help!"

"You think so?"

"Yep. Totally heroic pearl. That kind of thing," he added.

Toris laughed lightly, but then went silent, a rueful expression settling on his face.

"Something wrong?" Alfred queried.

"Sorry, I…" he breathed deeply, "I'm just a little worried about you is all."

"Huh? What do you mean? C'mon, you know me…"

Toris shook his head. "That's exactly it, Alfred. I know you… and I'm just wondering about you and Arthur."

Alfred cocked his head, his fin brushing against the rocky bottom of the cove. "What about us?"

"I'm sure he's very nice and all but…" he closed his eyes and rushed out the last part, "is it just because he's human?"

The blonde merman blinked, nonplussed, before his eyes widened. "Oh. No, no! That's not it at all," he clarified. "Geez, Arthur wondered the same thing. He's… well, I honestly like him, okay?" He pouted, his cheeks stained light pink, which Toris did not fail to notice.

Toris sighed. "I'm happy for you then. I hope he likes the pearl."

Alfred frowned. "H-hey, Toris?"

"Yes?"

"Um… if you're worried about like, me replacing you or something? I mean I dunno if it's that, but… you'll always be my best friend, okay?"

Toris chuckled, his face flushing. "T-thank you Alfred. And you'll always be mine."

Alfred nodded, his smile huge. "Yeah. It's kind of like… you know how Feliks is different to you?"

"Yes?"

He clapped a hand on Toris's shoulder. "Well Arthur… he's different to me, okay?"

Toris wondered if Alfred had any idea of the implication he'd just given. "Different like Feliks… really?"

"Yeah!" Alfred swam out of the cove, glancing upward to the surface once he'd exited. "Looks like it's almost sundown, so I'm gonna head to Arthur's, okay?"

Toris followed him out and gave him a one-armed hug. "Have fun then, Alfred…"

"Sure! I'll tell you all about it," he promised, and then swam upward and away, the pearl clutched in his hand.

* * *

Arthur sat at the end of the dock, a glass of iced tea in one hand and his bare feet dangling in the water. It was a muggy evening, humid to the point of slight discomfort. There were a couple of good things though; firstly, Francis and his friends had decided to go out for the evening, secondly, Alfred was supposed to be coming soon.

A small smile crossed his lips as he thought of the energetic merman. Sure, Alfred had inadvertently gotten him into a load of trouble that afternoon, but it wasn't his fault. The poor boy couldn't help what he was.

Not that there was anything wrong with it. On the contrary, it was right amazing, astounding. Alfred was beautiful, no getting around it.

He could feel his face heating, and he took another drink to cool himself down. He hoped that Alfred wasn't expecting that food tonight. Francis had made dinner, and he didn't want Alfred's much anticipated supper to be… French food. He was loathe to admit it, but Francis was a great cook. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to give it to Alfred! The last thing he wanted was for the merman to gain a taste for… French things.

He wondered if Alfred would kiss him again tonight. He would ask him about it either way! He wasn't going to let him get away without answering again.

A light splash, and then a shout of "Arthur!" pierced his thoughts. Arthur glanced out seaward, to see Alfred a good five meters away, but swimming toward him quickly.

In the sunset, the gold of his hair shone even brighter, and the sheen of his damp skin was-

"Hey!" Alfred rested his arms on the deck, his signature smile in place.

"Hallo, Alfred," Arthur answered. "Just on time."

"Yeah! I swam really fast. I was almost late… was looking for something," Alfred explained. "Scoot over, okay?" Arthur did so, and once he had enough room, Alfred pushed himself up onto the dock, sitting with his tail in the water, just like Arthur's feet. "What are you drinking?"

"Iced tea," Arthur answered. Feeling a bit bad for not having that 'really awesome human food,' he held out his glass. "Would you like some?"

Alfred nodded, snatching the glass and taking a gulp. His nose wrinkled in disgust almost immediately. "It's gross! It needs to be sweeter, I think."

Arthur scoffed. "It's too sweet already, git! Iced tea often is…"

He shook his head in the negative. "That better not be what you're giving me!"

Crossing his arms, Arthur frowned. "I-idiot. It's not! I… don't have that for you tonight, because my brother cooked and that's absolutely not worth your time."

Alfred's lips jutted out in an unmistakable pout. "Ah, man. Well next time, you'd better."

"I promise."

The merman bounced closer to Arthur. "You seem grumpier than usual…"

Arthur ran a hand down his face. "I had… a rather terrible day."

Alfred gasped, looking incensed. "Really? Anyone I need to talk to? I am a hero, after all…"

Finishing off his iced tea, Arthur chuckled. "Well firstly, they're all human, so there's not much you could do. But… I'm all right. It's just Francis and his friends being idiots."

Alfred leaned down, looking underneath the fringe of Arthur's bangs. He smiled, fond. "Hey well, I'm here right now… okay?" His smile grew. "So cheer up!"

His cheeks heated at how close Alfred's face was to his, how his bright blue eyes shone in the light of the sunset, a tinge of sky gold reflected in their corners. "R-right… I'll try."

The merman leapt away. "Awesome. I have something for you then…"

Arthur's eyebrows rose. "Y-you do?"

He noticed now that one of Alfred's fists was clenched. Possibly, it had been the entire time.

Alfred nodded, his cheeks glowing bright pink in the light. "Y-yeah. Uh…" he gulped, closed his eyes, and opened his hand, holding it out, "here you go."

In Alfred's hand was a perfect pearl. Large and round and utterly gleaming, reflecting colors like a rainbow in the burnished sunset.

Bloody hell. The kissing was_ nothing_ compared to this.

As much as he found it unbelievable, completely preposterous, and ridiculous beyond all belief; he thought there was a damn good chance that the merman was, well… _courting _him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Thank you for all of the reviews!

**Nikolas**- Norway  
**Derek**- Denmark

* * *

**Cerulean**

_Chapter Five_

By Everything is Magic

* * *

Arthur swallowed, thick and heavy in his throat, and he could hear his heart thumping in his ears. He dared to look up from Alfred's hand, where the pearl shone in his palm, to his face, and noted that the merman was looking away, a bashful flush to his features.

What was he to say? His mouth felt dry and his eyes were wide and unblinking. Was there any real reason to reject the gift? It's not as if he didn't like Alfred. Of course he did. He just… didn't imagine it very plausible that Alfred liked him _that _way in return.

It was too early to tell how much he felt for Alfred, but at the very least, he'd thought, since day one, that he'd very much like to date someone like him.

This was only day three though! But it wasn't as if it was unusual to meet someone and ask them to go out with them soon after. Dating was, after all, a trial period for a relationship, wasn't it?

He assumed that it was the same for Alfred. The merman appeared to take relations of a more… intimate nature very seriously, but this was just courting. Nothing like that! Then again, a pearl wasn't exactly a small gift.

_Idiot. He lives in the ocean. It's quite likely they're not as valuable down there._

Still, it was a _big_ pearl. And he'd been kissing him since their first meeting.

Plus, there was that whole problem with the fin and the tail and the-

_Oh bugger it all, it's just dating. _

Arthur licked his dry lips and gave Alfred a small, touched smile. He reached forward and deftly took the pearl from his hand. "Are you serious, Alfred?" he asked, and he knew his cheeks were bright red.

Alfred nodded. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be? I mean it's probably not that great a gift, but I'm pretty awesome and-"

"Don't be stupid. It's an amazing gift," Arthur interrupted. "Do you know how much this is worth?"

He cocked his head, and Arthur noticed that the sun had almost set entirely behind him. "No?"

Arthur chuckled, letting his feet splash back and forth in the water. "It's worth a lot, I can tell you that."

At this, Alfred smiled wide. "Really? I was hoping it was."

"It is." Arthur held the pearl in his palm and curled his fingers inward, running them across it. It shone, iridescent in the blossoming moonlight. "Look I…" he paused, his face still hot, "if this is what you want to do… I wouldn't mind."

Alfred looked genuinely bewildered. "Huh?"

"I-I mean with the kissing and the gift-giving and the…" he laughed awkwardly, scratching a cheek with his free hand, "You're not very subtle, honestly."

"Well why would I need to be subtle?"

"Ah well…" Arthur's heart pounded. Alfred was staring at him, point blank, having said his previous words with no hesitation. He really did want this, didn't he? He clenched the pearl in his fist, gently putting it in his pocket and buttoning the pocket shut. "A-Are we seeing each other then?"

Alfred cocked his head in that (all too adorable) manner that usually accompanied bewilderment. Shit. He'd messed up. "What do you mean? I see you right now!"

Oh well. Arthur sighed in relief. "Git, I don't mean are you looking at me. I do apologize… sometimes it's hard because I can't predict which slang or turns of phrase you're going to know." He took a deep breath.

"What do you mean then?" Alfred had turned his entire body toward Arthur, his fin more than halfway on the dock now.

"I mean…" He closed his eyes to calm himself, willing the heat that was inevitably rising to his cheeks to go away. It didn't work. "Are we… well we spend time together, and you're giving me gifts and…." he paused, "does this mean we're dating?"

Alfred's eyes grew large and he sat silent, as if processing Arthur's words. His own face was flushed, and his body was stiff. His mouth had fallen open slightly. "Y-you wanna date me?"

"W-well yes… I assumed that was… what you were implying with the-"

"That's awesome!" Alfred interrupted, shouting in excitement.

Arthur was about to respond when Alfred's body crashed into his, nearly knocking the wind out of him. The merman pressed himself against Arthur, arms wrapped tightly around his center and cheek nuzzled in the crook of his shoulder. His fin was entirely on the dock now, Arthur noticed.

"G-git… what are you…"

Oh right. They were _dating._

"Never mind," Arthur chuckled. He placed a hand on Alfred's back in a half embrace, patting it and running his hand across the bare expanse of skin.

He could practically feel Alfred beaming into his shoulder, and warmth pooled in his chest at this. That he could make someone so happy it- truly amazed him.

Arthur thought that it must have been almost half a minute before Alfred pulled away. He was resting his hands on Arthur's forearms now, grinning as wide as expected.

"Is that a yes then?" Arthur queried, his lips curling up in a wry smile.

Alfred nodded vigorously, almost bouncing as he did so. "I was really worried about the pearl, you know," he said. He'd relaxed his position, now bending his tail beneath him in a similar manner as to how Arthur might sit on his knees.

Arthur raised his thick brows. "That's quite silly of you."

"I guess so." Alfred rubbed the back of his head, a sheepish smile on his face. "I mean obviously a hero like me would pick a good gift, but still. I've been told that merpeople used to use them for trade with humans, so I knew they were valuable a long time ago but…"

"Extremely valuable, Alfred," Arthur interrupted. "It's an astounding gift. You're a right idiot for giving it to me, to be honest."

Alfred flushed pink and shrugged. "W-well, it's… there's not money and stuff where I come from. Food is one of the only things of real value, you know?"

"Yes, of course. That makes sense."

Starlight had settled on the summer sky, and it painted the ocean in glittering blue. Alfred still had one hand resting on Arthur's forearm, and hesitantly, Arthur reached up and placed a hand atop of his.

He was dating a merman. Three days ago, the mere idea of Alfred even existing had been a preposterous one. Now he was, for the third day in a row, spending time alone with him. Whether it was sitting on a dock or on the back of a yacht, it was just the two of them with only the sea as their company. In retrospect, it was… rather intimate.

"What do you want to do for our dates?" Alfred leaned forward and asked.

Arthur gulped, his hand still steady on the merman's. "D-dates?"

Alfred turned his face away, his cheeks flushed. "Well uh… if we're dating, we should do things like that, right? Humans go out together. I know they do. I've… seen people doing it out on boats and stuff."

"Yes, you're quite right." Arthur felt his own face heating. "W-well normally I would... say we could go out to restaurants or to the movie theatre or… things of that sort." He bit his lip. "But our… situation is rather different, all things considering."

Alfred faced him again. He frowned. "Oh yeah… it would be really cool if I could do all of that with you though…"

Arthur moved his hand up Alfred's wrist, and unthinkingly, he found himself running his fingers over the smooth blue flesh that led into the fin on his forearm. "Don't be daft. It's quite all right. Do you have any ideas then? Perhaps places you merpeople like to go? Keeping in mind that I can't breathe underwater, of course."

Alfred smiled. "Well uh… do you like seals?"

* * *

Arthur wondered again, if he had gone crazy. It was past nine p.m., after dark, and he was speeding along on a yacht to an unknown destination. His only guide was a merman; one who was sitting on the back of the yacht and shouting directions to him amidst humming a song very loudly. Arthur vaguely recognized the song as something by Lady Gaga, and assumed that Alfred had heard it playing on one of the party boats that enjoyed cruising the sound.

Alfred had neither compass, nor any other material manner in which to navigate, but he spoke with confidence and knowledge as to how to get where they were going. Arthur frowned as he gripped the steering wheel. The ocean all looked the same to him, once they were out this far. He could see the vague outline of the shore, but couldn't make out any details. The shore that he was looking at now may have been the island Alfred had said they were going to. He hoped so.

"ALMOST THERE! JUST KEEP GOING STRAIGHT, THEN GO NORTH TO THE TIP," Alfred yelled.

"RIGHT. IS THAT IT AHEAD?" Arthur asked, shouting over the motor.

"YEAH!"

"BRILLIANT." Arthur sped up a bit, leaving a trail of white foam in his wake.

* * *

Once they reached the island, the first thing Arthur noticed is that there was absolutely nowhere for him to dock near the sandy beach. Alfred had laughed, shrugging and admitting he hadn't thought about that.

"Don't you have an anchor? Just anchor it here where it's shallow and we'll swim, all right?" Alfred offered, from his point sitting at the end of the yacht. Arthur turned off the boat, lowered the anchor, and joined him.

"I wasn't exactly planning on taking a swim tonight," Arthur grumbled, crossing his arms.

Alfred reached up and placed a hand on his arm, his smile wide. "You can be really idiotic sometimes too, Arthur!" He laughed. "How do you expect to do something with me that involves leaving the boat, if you refuse to get wet?"

Arthur flushed in indignation. "Well I-I-" he huffed, "I suppose that's true."

Alfred shot him an impish grin, and before he knew it, he'd smacked his fluke down into the ocean, causing a spray of water to fly up and splash Arthur soundly in the face.

"Do you need help swimming or something?"

"I am quite capable of swimming, thank you very much," Arthur retorted. He rolled his eyes and unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it on the side bench of the yacht. His shoes joined it thereafter.

Alfred just smiled, slipping into the water and gesturing for Arthur to join him. He dipped his toes in, allowing himself to get used to the temperature, and then he slid in.

The water was over his head, that much was obvious. They were a good twenty-five meters out, and gentle waves were lapping over him as he floated. "But I've seen you swim. You're right quick. Faster than any human, let alone me."

Alfred laughed. "Of course we do! I probably couldn't have kept up with your boat, but if you'd gone a little bit slower, it wouldn't have been much of a problem."

Arthur's eyes grew large. "I was going eighteen knots per hour!"

"I have no idea what that means, but I guess it's fast?" Alfred was treading water gently with his hands.

"It certainly is," Arthur replied. "Now we're just swimming near the shore? I thought you said something about seals..."

Alfred nodded. He raised his hand and pointed to a small shoal. "The beach on the other side of that. I thought if we parked the boat too close, we might scare them." He shrugged. "There's another beach nearby that gets a lot of visitors, but this group of seals is a little more isolated."

Arthur blinked. The shoal was small, extending only about ten meters into the ocean. He began swimming toward it, Alfred following.

The water was cool and dark, but the almost full moon shone quite a lot of light onto both the ocean and the beach.

He could tell that Alfred was struggling to keep to a similar pace as him. He was feebly moving his fin up and down and almost sluggishly pushing his arms in and out. It was a tad humiliating for Arthur, to be honest.

And, he cursed inwardly, Alfred was growing visibly impatient. Arthur was not only far slower than him, but he also had to battle with the waves more, as they tried to push him back. It wasn't difficult, and he truly didn't consider himself a bad swimmer. But compared to Alfred…

He gasped when he felt a weight around his center, his eyes growing wide in shock. He was about to give it a solid kick when he realized it was Alfred. He had a rather pouty expression on his face.

"It's uh- really hard for me to swim that slow," Alfred said. "So I can just… carry you."

Arthur's cheeks burned in embarrassment. "G-git!"

"I'm not insulting you. It's just true…" Alfred explained. He tightened his hold on his center, and Arthur realized that he was blushing not just because he felt inadequate, but because Alfred was clinging firmly to his bare stomach. And he was pressed to Alfred's side. He could feel his fin brushing his legs every few moments.

Arthur swallowed thickly. "Y-you know what you said about me needing to get wet. About how… I couldn't expect to do many things with you if…"

"Yeah?"

He twisted a bit in Alfred's grasp, but damn was he strong. "Well that's fine. A bit of water never hurt anyone, after all. But ah… in the same vein, you can't expect to date me if you won't accept my limitations as a human, all right?" He was glancing up at Alfred now, and there was enough moonlight that he could make out his features clearly. His mouth had dropped open in an 'o.' "A bit of water never hurt anyone, but a bit of patience never did either." He reached up and tapped the tip of Alfred's nose, causing him to flush.

"Is it so bad? Geez I…"

"It is… honestly quite humiliating, Alfred," Arthur huffed. "Now come on and put me down, all right?"

Alfred obliged, releasing his hold on the other man. "Sorry. Guess you're right." He shook his head. "Must be nice… to be able to walk and swim, even if the swimming is slow."

Arthur smiled. "Don't be silly. It's not so great." He gave a half-smile. "Now where are those seals?"

* * *

They'd stopped swimming once they'd reached a point where it was shallow enough for Arthur to stand with plenty of room, but not so shallow that Alfred was uncomfortable. In the moonlight, about five meters away from the shore, the seals looked like rather speckled rocks on a sandy beach.

"They're asleep," Arthur sighed. "Honestly, I'm hardly going to go up there and wake them."

Alfred just grinned. "Don't worry about it, Arthur. These guys are cool."

Arthur scoffed. "Cool? What can you talk to them or something? That wouldn't be the craziest thing that's happened to me…"

Alfred scratched his cheek. "Ah, no. They don't understand my language or anything but… humans have animal companions too, right?"

"Well yes, of course. Dogs and cats and things of that sort."

Alfred stuck two fingers in his mouth and blew, making a noise that was somewhere between a squeak and a whistle.

"Blimey, that was loud."

The merman placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just watch."

The seals were beginning to wake up, yawning and rolling onto their stomachs and looking, admittedly, rather adorable doing so. Arthur was quite thankful that it was a moonlit night. There were about fifteen seals, and all but a couple of them had locked eyes with Alfred.

"You all call them harbor seals," Alfred explained. "We call them this." He clicked six times, in varying pitches and lengths, with two intermittent squeaks.

Alfred called out to them again, and several of them began to slip into the water.

"I'm sure they like you, Alfred… but what about me?" Arthur watched, his stomach coiling in worry, as they approached. It's not that he was scared of seals. He truly wasn't. But some of them were longer than he was, and all but a few smaller ones were much heavier. If they got scared, that could be cause for concern, right?

"It's all right, Arthur. These guys know me pretty well. They'll trust you too."

Two seals reached them first, and Alfred reached out a hand immediately to stroke them on their heads. "These two are girls. I call them…" he paused, searching for a translation, "Coral and Sandy. They were both born last year. They're not actually twins, but they look so much alike!"

Alfred reached down and scratched their stomachs, which they seemed to enjoy a lot based on the blissful expressions on their faces. They'd both closed their eyes in delight at his administrations, and although Arthur knew better, it appeared to him that they were smiling.

"You can touch them, Arthur."

Three more seals had come up, and now they were surrounded by them, two men (well, one merman), in the middle of a circle of seals. Arthur gulped and tentatively reached his hand out to the closest of them, a mid-sized seal with darker fur than the two girls. "H-hallo…"

Taking a deep breath, he placed his fingers atop the seal's head. It did not pull away, but instead leaned into Arthur's touch. His eyes lit up in amazement, as he stroked its soft dense fur. "W-who is this?"

"Kelpie!" Alfred supplied. "He likes you a lot."

Arthur surveyed the dark, almost black, seal again. "You know there are legends over in the British Isles, where I'm from, about a creature called a Kelpie. Water horses, with skin like a seal's… they're rather… sinister."

Alfred reached over and stroked Kelpie on the nose. "We have a name for that too." He demonstrated, but the clicks on this particular word were almost too quiet to hear.

"You mean they're real?" Arthur gasped.

"I don't know. Nikolas says they were, at least." Alfred shrugged. "But I just named him Kelpie because I thought it was cute. You know, Kelp… like the seaweed?"

Arthur chuckled, feeling a bit daft. "Ah yes, of course." He turned to another seal, which had just nudged him in the elbow. "I never knew seals to be the… cuddly type, Alfred."

The merman scratched a newly arrived, very large seal under the chin. "They probably won't let humans touch them most of the time, but we've had seals as companions forever. Our disguise only works on humans, so animals see us as we are."

Arthur cocked an eyebrow. "Speaking of, what about dolphins? Are they your companions too?"

"Definitely dolphins and porpoises and… even whales sometimes. Otters too, although there aren't any around here."

"Mammals like you then?" Arthur queried. "I suppose that makes sense. Humans are much the same…"

Alfred nodded. "Humans keep theirs at home though, right? We don't really do that. I mean we don't have houses or anything so… we just kind of bond."

"I-I see." One seal had just swum a circle around him, and he'd snatched its flipper, shaking it much like he would the paw of a dog.

He was distracted by his own very playful seal when he heard a robust laugh. Arthur whipped his head back to Alfred and his green eyes grew large. He was holding a seal up to his face, allowing it to press wet kisses to its nose much like someone might a puppy.

And it was indeed, exactly that. A seal pup. Its fur was thicker than the fur of its adult counterparts, and its face was… rather cherubic. Arthur's expression softened. "I haven't named her yet. I've been debating since she was born… around the time of the last full moon."

"She's really adorable," Arthur admitted. He bit his lip. "May I?"

Alfred scratched the seal's back where, Arthur noticed, some of the thicker and downier fur was starting to shed off. "Uh hold on."

He turned to another seal, one that was floating right next to him. Leaning down, he spoke to it in gentle, reassuring clicks.

"Awesome. It should be fine," Alfred said, straightening back up.

Arthur chuckled. "Did you have to ask Mum?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He held the pup out to Arthur. "Careful, she's heavier than she looks."

Gingerly and with utmost care, Arthur took the pup from Alfred's arm. He buckled under her weight, and immediately held her to his chest as a brace. "H-hello love," he whispered, rocking slightly in the waves. He stroked behind the holes that were her ears. "They really are beautiful, Alfred," Arthur professed. "Brilliant. This is… a privilege."

Alfred beamed with pride. "So it's a good date then?"

Arthur smiled, wide and genuine. "It's an amazing date."

The merman and the human floated and stood in the ocean, bathed in the moonlight and surrounded by seals, and Arthur thought, that this was… well, it was stupid to deny it; one of the most magical moments of his entire life.

He was interrupted by Alfred faking a cough. Looking over, he noticed that Alfred's cheeks had flushed scarlet. "D-do you uh… do you wanna uh- name her? I mean I haven't thought of anything and-"

"Viviane," he offered, as he continued to rock the seal in his arms. "Um, that is… I understand if you don't like-"

"No, Viviane is great!" He gestured, his hands in front of him. "What's it mean?"

"It's one of the names given for the Lady of the Lake from Arthurian legend," he clarified. "It means lively though, in Latin."

Alfred's mouth dropped. "Arthurian? You have an entire legend with your name?"

Arthur laughed lightly. "King Arthur is one of the most well known legends there is. My Mum studied it for years, and that's where I got my name."

The merman reached over and scratched Viviane's back. "You're named after a King? That's awesome."

"I'm not the only one," Arthur countered. "The man who is considered by many to be the greatest of all Kings of England was named Alfred."

Alfred's face brightened. "A hero then?"

"You bet your life he was," he affirmed. "Anyway, sorry. I love talking about things like this, but Francis tells me it's part of the reason I don't have much of a social life. I say sod off but- "

"I like it," Alfred cut in. His cheeks pinked. "I mean… it's cool… to hear all the things you're telling me, you know? I'm really interested in mythology and history and stuff. Nikolas and Derek tell me everything they know, and I can't get enough."

Arthur gaped in shock, nearly dropping the seal pup. "H-honestly?"

"Yeah! So next time we meet, can you tell me about King Arthur?"

"Of course… I'd love to," he responded, half breathless. "And will you tell me one?"

Alfred nodded, enthusiastic. "I'll tell you about Queen Rán and her daughters!"

"And then would you like to hear about Alfred the Great? That one is one hundred percent true," Arthur asked, and his voice rose in excitement as he spoke.

"Yeah. It sounds so awesome! I'll tell you- I'll surprise you after that, okay?"

"That sounds perfect." He smiled at Alfred, and the merman smiled back, his blue eyes twinkling with mirth. A nudge on his arm interrupted him, and he glanced down to see Viviane's mother staring at him. "I suppose you want your little girl back." Arthur hesitated, but then lowered his face to Viviane's, receiving a wet nose kiss in return. "It was very nice to meet you, Viviane."

He placed her in the water and watched as she and her mother swam to the shore. The other seals were beginning to scatter away as well. "We did wake them up, so they're probably tired," Alfred reasoned. "Ready to swim back now?"

"Yes. I suppose we should go back before it gets any later," Arthur replied. He scratched his temple and smiled nervously.

"Okay, sounds good!" Alfred was about to push himself off into a swim, when Arthur snatched his arm and pulled him back. Quick as he could, so he wouldn't change his mind, he maneuvered the surprised Alfred face to face with him, leaned forward, and planted a chaste kiss upon his cheek.

"Wha-"

Arthur's face was red, but he managed a smile. "Just thought I should return the favor."

* * *

**Notes:**  
-There are large colonies of both Harbor Seals and Gray Seals in Nantucket. They live there year round. There are tourist boats that you can pay to take tours on to see them, which is what Alfred mentions when he says his are a little more isolated. Alfred and Arthur to go Monomoy Island! It would be about twelve miles by boat from where Arthur lives, which is about ten knots. As his boat goes eighteen knots an hour, I'd say it took them about forty minutes to get to Monomoy from Osterville. Hopefully I'm correct. Alfred's ability to swim at a speed 'a little slower' than eighteen knots an hour (about 21 mph) comes from dolphin swimming speeds. When not aided by anything, dolphins can swim at about 14 knots per hour. I don't see Alfred being quite this fast. I'd imagine more like twelve for him (that's about thirteen mph), so it's a bit more than 'a little slower.' Alfred is slightly exaggerating his awesome. His casual swimming speed would be much slower, probably about 4.5 knots an hour (5.1 miles per hour).

This doesn't sound that fast, but the truth is that the average swimming speed for humans is around half a mile an hour when casually swimming. A trained athletic swimmer might be able to swim a mile or two an hour, but keep in mind these are also speeds measured without waves and ocean influence. Even an Olympic Gold medal swimmer rarely tops four miles an hour, and the record for long distance swimming is under four miles an hour.

So yeah, poor Arthur is pretty slow compared to Alfred.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**I don't really have any excuse for lack of updates recently outside of epic writer's block. Hopefully I'm over it now. So sorry, seriously! Thank you for all of the continued reviews though!

**Nikolas**- Norway  
**Derek**- Denmark

**Ingimar**- Iceland

* * *

**Cerulean**

_Chapter Six_

* * *

Alfred rushed speedily through the water, his fluke moving quickly and the sea rushing past his ears. He had so much to tell his family.

Okay, so he felt weird telling them some of the specifics; things that felt… like they should stay private between him and Arthur. But he still wanted them to know some of it, because it was really awesome!

The moonlight shone down into the shallow waters of the sound, and Alfred continued swimming. It was late, so it was likely his family would already be asleep by now. He was heading to their cove…

Idly, Alfred found himself touching his cheek. Where Arthur had kissed him. His face heated.

"_Just thought I should return the favor…"_

_Alfred blinked, a huge smile spreading across his face. "Awesome. That's… great." He placed his hand on Arthur's brow, pushing his bangs off his forehead and planting a gentle kiss upon it._

_Arthur flushed crimson. "A-Alfred… why do you…"_

"_Huh?"_

_He sighed and gestured dismissively, a small smile on his face. "Ah, never mind. Shall we go back?"_

They'd arrived home and parted shortly thereafter, and Alfred felt warmth bubbling in his chest then. He still did even now.

Arthur was… something special. And if a hero like him thought someone was special, that meant a lot! His family's cove was in sight, and he sped up as he approached it.

Turning a corner, he peeked inside, making out the sleeping forms of all six of his pod. Berwald and Tino were curled up together, Tino's smaller form comfortably in Berwald's arms. Nikolas was lying against the wall, Derek's arm flopped over him and his other arm sprawled out on the other side, as if he were attempting to take up as much room as possible. Ingimar and Matthew both slept by themselves, the former on his side and the latter on his stomach, both against the back wall.

Alfred slipped in the cove with a quick flick of his tail and beamed brightly. "Hey everyone!" he shouted, raising his arms above his head. "I'm back!"

Tino shifted and opened his eyes, waking up Berwald in the process. The larger merman instinctively held Tino closer, before relaxing his grip when he realized it was Alfred.

Derek sat up, thwacking Nikolas in the face accidentally in the process, and rubbed his eyes blearily. Nikolas glared and leaned against the wall. Ingimar and Matthew stirred awake as well. There was a thunk when Matthew sat up. He'd smacked his head on the rock of the cove and was rubbing it while wincing.

"S'late Alfr'd," Berwald mumbled, shooting his adopted son a serious expression. "Tryin' t' sleep."

Tino chuckled. "Alfred, I don't mind you staying out late… but do you need to always wake us up when you return?"

"Yeah… I hit my head, eh," Matthew sighed.

"Aha, you all didn't want to be informed of my heroic return?" Alfred asked with a shrug and a sheepish smile.

"Not really." Nikolas nursed his smacked cheek. A red mark in the shape of a palm had bloomed there.

Derek blinked and stared at Nikolas in bewilderment. "Hey Nik, what happened to your face?"

"You hit me, you moron," Nikolas snapped and glared at him.

"God you two…" Ingimar rolled his eyes and rested his hands behind his head.

Alfred laughed. There was only a small sliver of moonlight peeking into the cave, but it was enough to make out the group before him. _Home sweet home, huh? Wouldn't be my family otherwise… _

"Anyway, since you're already awake." He grinned, huge and wide. "I- totally had an awesome night."

He paused, as if for dramatic effect, and to make sure everyone's eyes were on him.

"I had… a date."

Matthew tensed up at this proclamation immediately, and shot his brother a surreptitious glance. "The human?" he mouthed. Alfred nodded.

Tino wriggled out of Berwald's arms and sat up, stretching and yawning as he did so. "That's… nice Alfred. Who with? There aren't many others around here." His lips quirked up in a small smile.

Derek's eyes grew large, and he pounded his fist in his hand. "It's got to be Natalia then!"

Alfred wrinkled his nose. "Natalia, seriously? I mean she's all right sometimes, but…"

"Like anyone could get between her and Ivan," Matthew finished.

"Eduard? He's nice…" Tino offered.

Alfred laughed and scratched his cheek, starting to feel a bit nervous now. He hadn't sat down yet, still floating above his family in the cove. "No, no and no. It's no one you guys know."

"'Nother pod c'me through?" Berwald inquired, head propped up on one elbow.

He shook his head. "He's…" Alfred paused and rushed the last part out, "He's a human."

Silence.

The merman gulped and began to babble, a nervous habit, "His name is Arthur. He's uh… really nice? Sorta grumpy too, but that's just how he acts. He's actually kinda sweet when you get to know him." His cheeks flushed pink. "He's from England, and he's here because he's-"

"Who in this pod taught_ Alfred_ of all people how to remove the masking spell?" Nikolas interrupted, his brows furrowed in irritation.

"S'probably Derek," Berwald accused, glaring at the aforementioned merman.

"No way I-"

"No one taught me it," Alfred clarified. "Arthur… he has the sight."

Everyone in the cove perked up at this, Nikolas especially. "That's… I haven't heard of that happening since…"

"In your lifetime, I know," he cut in, waving his hand. "But it's true. He does. He can see me and… we kind of hit it off." Alfred smiled, fond.

Ingimar cleared his throat, and everyone turned to him, their attention captured by the previously silent member of the group. "Is it really that surprising?" he asked. "Alfred and a human? We all know how much time he spends watching them."

Tino shook his head in the positive. "It's not surprising but…" he laughed lightly, "on the upside; I guess it's good that he can see you. I'd always worried that you'd meet some human and end up heartbroken because they didn't even know you exist!"

Alfred rubbed his forehead, used to Tino's odd, and sometimes a bit dark, sense of humor. "Yeah… hey, it's not that he's… human. He's just… Arthur." His face grew red again. "We went to see seals together tonight and…"

He stopped. He didn't really want to explain anymore. He didn't want to explain how handsome Arthur had looked with the moon shining down on him, and the way he'd smiled when he held the baby seal, or how his heart had leapt all over the place when Arthur had kissed his cheek. He didn't want to talk about how ecstatic he'd been when Arthur had liked the pearl, when he'd found out that it was actually really valuable and was an awesome gift. When he'd embraced Arthur and it had just felt so…

"Right." Alfred shrugged. "I just wanted to let you know what's up."

He drifted back to the spot in the cove he generally slept, right next to Matthew, and floated down to the seafloor.

"Y'better let me meet h'm somet'me, Alfr'd," Berwald mumbled. "M'ke sure he's good en'gh for m'boy."

Alfred's cheeks flushed scarlet as he curled up beside his brother. "Berwald, I'm not a kid anymore, okay? And we're just… dating."

"That's how it starts," Nikolas said. "And then before you know it, you're stuck with an idiot like Derek for the rest of your life."

Derek lay back down, curling up around his partner. "Aww, love you too Nik."

"Shut it."

Alfred laughed and shook his head, used to their antics. He turned to face Matthew. "Hey…" he whispered.

"Yeah?"

The elder twin averted his eyes and bit his lip. "Do you think um…"

Matthew sighed. "I think that I just want you to be careful, eh."

"I mean… not that I care or anything, because a hero does what he thinks is right no matter what anyone else thinks!" He grinned, a bit lopsided. "But do you think it's okay with everyone?"

His brother chuckled at this. "Like you were ever going to settle down like a normal merman. At least this is better than you leaving with that pod from down south and us hardly ever seeing you, eh?"

Alfred yawned, his eyes sliding closed. "I guess that's true…"

"G'night Alfred…"

"Night, Matthew."

That night Alfred dreamt of sunsets and moonlit nights and a rare but wonderful smile and… what would have happened had Arthur moved just a little bit over when he had kissed him…

* * *

It had been two weeks. He'd seen Alfred nearly every day, the only two exceptions being one day when he'd had to go back to Harvard to discuss his autumn schedule with a counselor, and another day when there'd been a particularly nasty storm (he hadn't worried about Alfred that day, most certainly not).

Francis was still teasing him about it, prodding him for information about the mysterious boyfriend whose existence he could not verify. He'd given up on the dolphin joke… for the most part, but Arthur did not appreciate being teased about an imaginary boyfriend.

That struck a rather hurtful chord with him, for a reason he was unable to pinpoint.

Despite how obnoxious Francis was, he… couldn't exactly deny that he'd tease Francis just as brutally if he had such a prime opportunity as this. Bollocks.

He half considered just lying and telling Francis that he had broken up with Alfred.

Alfred was much finer company than Francis. They swapped stories almost every day; King Arthur and King Alfred, and fairy tales and legends and myths from both of their cultures.

Arthur loved it, and he knew Alfred did as well. When he got back inside every night, he'd jot down short notes about the tales the merman told, as not to forget any important details.

As for his promised 'human food,' he'd fulfilled that many times over. Often he'd bring out whatever he was having for a meal and share it with Alfred; whether pizza or salad or fish and chips.

He was delighted to discover that Alfred did not hate his cooking. He'd sort of… given it an odd look upon trying one of his scones, but then gulped it down and asked if "this is what humans called delicious?" Well of course it was! That Frog just had no taste.

For his part, Alfred had shown him… many things. He had favorite spots in the ocean, where seabirds loved to gather and schools of fish balled up in a massive swirling cyclone of sea life, and… dolphins (actual dolphins, not merpeople in disguise) would come up to his boat, as if drawn in by Alfred's presence.

The previous night they'd relaxed under the moonlight, sharing stories and bickering animatedly. Unbidden, Alfred had lain down and rested his head in Arthur's lap, smiling up at him.

He'd been shocked, his face flushing bright crimson, but that had melted into a smile. Arthur had found himself stroking Alfred's hair absently as he'd continued to tell stories of the Wild Hunt.

But they hadn't gone much beyond that. There were occasional embraces, kisses on the cheek (or forehead and nose, in Alfred's case), and… small touches, sometimes lingering ones.

It was enough. It was more than he'd ever really had, at least.

He fingered a tan leather cord that he now wore around his neck, pulling it out of his collar and surveying the large pearl that had been strung onto it. The jeweler had been impressed when he'd brought in the pearl, remarking that it was a fantastic piece and such a lucky find. Arthur had probably turned a bit pink at this, but he'd cleared his throat and explained that he wanted a necklace, and that's how he'd ended up with it. It felt unfair not to use the gift Alfred had given him… and it did make a… really nice piece of jewelry.

Alfred had been ecstatic when he'd seen it. He'd leapt on him again, as a matter of fact.

It was late afternoon now, and he hadn't seen Alfred yet. It would be a few more hours, at least, so he'd decided to give his mum a ring. It was evening there, so she was home from work by then.

His mother, Irene, was a collection curator at the British Library in London, and she often babbled about her work. Arthur found it fascinating, as she worked nearly every day with precious texts from annals of history. It was a job he'd considered at one point himself, before he'd settled on journalism.

She'd just finished relating a story a coworker had told her about a visitor's humorous reaction to the Magna Carta room, and Arthur was mulling, mulling on something he very much wanted to tell her but did not quite know how.

Arthur's mother was visiting later that summer. This was no surprise. He'd known that she was planning a visit since he'd flown back for the winter holidays. She was currently informing him that she had booked her flight for exactly the days they'd planned together, and that she was very excited to visit the Cape because it really did sound lovely.

There was no way he was going to be able to hide his time with Alfred for an entire two week visit, and he was hardly about to tell the merman not to meet with him for that entire time.

He didn't even want to think of how much Alfred would pout.

It would be unbearable. The git.

So yes, he'd probably have to tell his mum about Alfred. As to whether he told her about him being a merman? Well, he did value being considered sane in his mother's eyes. He let out a puff of air.

"Mum?" he asked, curling up his legs on the sofa and resting the phone between his ear and his shoulder.

"Yes?"

He bit his lip. "Do you know anything about… the sight? You know, seeing magical things and all that rot. I know, it's a strange question but…"

Arthur could have sworn that he heard her breath hitch. "Why do you ask, love?"

"I'm ah… just curious," he lied, although not entirely. "Something came up recently that brought it to mind."

Irene went silent for a moment before replying, "Well there are lots of stories, some of which… you know, I'm sure." She seemed to hesitate. "T-there is one, about infants born at midnight on Fridays, you know? They call them Chime Children."

"I've heard that story," Arthur said, "but I thought that it was midnight and noon, any day."

"I'm sure that when such things, such superstitions were more commonly believed, it was thought to be a wider occurrence, mmm?" she asked, although Arthur thought it rhetorical. "Arthur do you know when you were born?"

"Can't remember, Mum," he said… although he had… a feeling that…

His throat felt dry.

"Midnight on a Friday."

Of course it would be that, Arthur thought. It certainly explained seeing Alfred, but why had this just happened to him now?

"Ah really?" Arthur feigned obliviousness. "Well that's a rather specific ti-"

"Love, why did you ask me about the sight?" she interrupted. "Did something happen?"

"W-whatever could you mean?"

Even if the slight shake to his voice hadn't been completely obvious, Arthur knew his mother wouldn't buy it. She could read him perfectly, even over the phone. Blast.

"It's nothing Mum," he argued. "I just saw something the other night and it frightened me a bit, but I'm sure it was just a trick of the light."

He could at least _attempt _to lie.

"A trick of the light?" she stifled a laugh. "Like Gawain was?"

"Gawain?" Arthur furrowed his brows. "Mum what are you…"

"I never did believe you, although I humored it because… what's wrong with a young child having an imaginary friend, you know?" she sighed. "But then there was that time in the library's museum, when you decided you'd translate a bit of Old English for me."

"Wh-what?" Arthur sat up, leaning forward on the sofa.

"Not something most four year olds are adept at, hmm? But you looked at the blooming _Beowulf _manuscript and said to me 'Mum, Gawain says that this line means this.' And you were right… and bloody hell, how am I to argue with that? It's more likely that than a toddler being able to read Old English. There were other things too… little things that made your sight difficult to deny."

Arthur swallowed down a lump in his throat, brushing away slivers of memory that were surfacing; a trip to Mum's work, a flash of green, his mother's shocked face.

"T-that's very funny Mum," Arthur laughed falsely. "Gawain? That doesn't even make sense as a name. You of all people should know. Gawain _fought _the green knight, but he was hardly green himself."

"Arthur, love," Irene replied, "firstly, you were barely out of nappies when you first told me about Gawain, so it's hardly surprising the name ended up incorrect. Secondly? I never told you that your friend was green."

Arthur's mouth dropped open, and he came close to dropping his cellphone.

It's not as if what his mother appeared to be implying didn't make sense. He had the ability to see Alfred when no one else could, after all. But… it was still a lot to take in, and… why did he not remember any of it?

"Mum what exactly are you…"

"Of course you claimed to see a lot of things," Irene elucidated. "There were fairies and spirits and… little odd beasts like Gawain. A green rabbit with wings?"

"Y-yes… I suppose he was."

Arthur's mouth felt very dry. He considered taking a swig from the cup of tea he had on the table, but he didn't even think that would help much.

"I… wondered," her voice grew softer, "if you'd ever bring it up, ask me about it? You haven't mentioned anything like this since the first year of primary school. You stopped seeing them then, were quite insistent that you never had."

Now would be a fantastic time to tell his mother what was going on. _Oh by the way Mum, the reason I asked? It's because I'm dating a merman. _

Green bunny aside though, he was fairly sure that his mother wouldn't believe him.

Although… he supposed that there was a chance.

After all, at some point in his life, back when he was very young (a time he only had snatches of memory from), he'd apparently seen fairies and ghosts and some such rot. And his mother had _believed _it.

Now, after all these years, this ability had bloody resurfaced, if Alfred were to be believed.

"So I'm… a Chime Child?" Arthur said, his voice quiet, breathless from this revelation.

"Who knows? It's not as if I could go to a doctor and get you diagnosed. I just assumed, considering your time of birth, that it must be the case."

"A-ah… makes sense, I suppose."

"What brought this on, Arthur?" she asked, concerned. "Are you seeing them again?"

_Not exactly. Not them. Just… him. _

"I-I'm… not exactly?" he replied. "Certainly not fairies or rabbits or whatnot."

"Then…?"

He closed his eyes, reached for a sip of his tea (to calm his nerves), and rubbed his forehead. The camera sat on the table, filled to the brim with pictures of Alfred and him. It wasn't just from their second day together either. Arthur had brought the camera along to several other 'dates' since that first weekend. Alfred still found it to be utterly brilliant.

"You see… the thing is… well—I have a boyfriend now."

At Arthur's most pessimistic, he considered that his mum might find that alone more unbelievable than the whole merman thing. He'd come out to her when he was sixteen, but he hadn't… ever successfully dated. One or two dates was all he had ever lasted with anyone. And there'd been nothing beyond chaste kisses either.

"Arthur, really?" He could hear the astonishment in her voice. He felt like such a bloody loser. Damn.

"Yes."

"That's wonderful, brilliant… so great, love!" she exclaimed, and it made Arthur's cheeks bloom bright pink.

"Mum, stop that!"

"Sorry Arthur," she chortled. "I just… I'm so happy for you. I know how much you've-" she cleared her throat. "Well never mind. What's his name, how long, tell me about him!"

Arthur half thought his mother had forgotten entirely about their discussion regarding the sight.

"Alfred, his name is Alfred," Arthur explained, and his face was still hot. "He's a year younger than me, lives… around here, and we met a couple of weeks ago. Hit it off quite quickly." He let out a puff of air.

_He's ridiculously handsome. We spend nearly every day together… _

_I really, honestly l—_

"You'd be surprised at how taken with me he is."

"Alfred, hmm?" Irene said. "And I don't see how that's such a surprise. You don't give yourself enough credit, Arthur."

"Preposterous, Mum." He shook his head. "And it's more that he was fascinated with me from the beginning, really."

"Hmm." He heard her tap the phone, something that she often did when she was mulling on something. "A friend of mine, Anna, said that Americans can be like that with the English. I don't know if it's the accent or what, but she claims she encounters it a lot when she visits the States."

"It's got nothing to do with me being English, honestly," Arthur countered, taking another sip of his tea. "It's because… well…"

_Just spit it out you fool. If she can believe winged rabbits that read Old English, she can believe this!_

"…He's not entirely human. Half human, rather. I… suppose that would be the best way to describe it. And that's why I asked you about the sight and all. Because… well I HAVE seen something out of the ordinary. In fact, I'm dating it and…" He smacked his forehead. "Oh Christ, I'm babbling, aren't I? Better to do that than stop and hear you pronounce me nutters but… yes, it appears this Chime Child thing has returned because I am…"

"…Arthur?"

"Dating a merman."

The line fell silent, and Arthur counted the seconds. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight-

"Do you mean it?"

"Would I make something like this up?" he snapped, and he immediately regretted it, because… it was his _mum._

"I-I suppose not…"

Arthur glanced at the camera once more. "Merpeople have… a sort of spell that conceals them from human view. We see them as dolphins. But not me. I just see Alfred as he is."

He could hear his mother exhale. "I'm trying to think of any plausible reason you would lie about this, but everything I can think of is so unlike my Arthur that it's silly to even consider."

"I'm not lying," he assured, tone firm.

"I believe you."

And suddenly, Arthur felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his chest. He cracked a smile. "Thank you."

"But," she continued, "I expect to meet him when I visit." She didn't wait for a response. "It always frustrated me a bit that I could never see what you saw, know who you were talking about."

"Well I apologize," Arthur said. "It's not as if I can remember it anyway."

"It's all right," Irene chuckled. "Do you spend a lot of time with Alfred?"

"Almost every single day…" the words were out before he could register them, and his face grew flush. "I don't know how you expect to be able to see—"

"I don't care that I don't have the sight. If he can do magic that hides his appearance or whatever, I'm sure he can make it so that his boyfriend's mum can see him, hmm?"

Arthur frowned. It figured that his mother would want to meet him. Of course she would. Why wouldn't she? It was part of the standard order of events when one acquired a boyfriend.

"I—I think that Alfred mentioned something to me about removing the spell," Arthur replied. "I can ask him about it, but I can't make any promises."

He imagined Alfred. He _would_ be excited to meet his mother, Arthur thought. Another human! The ridiculous git would smile and babble endlessly about who knew what and ask a million questions. "I've never spoken to a _girl_ human before," or some other such silliness. He noticed then, that his frown had turned to a small smile.

Damn Alfred, always doing that to him.

* * *

**Notes:**  
-**The British Library** is the world's largest library in terms of number of owned items. There is a museum section of the library that contains some of their most prized items; including two copies of the **Magna Carta** (from 1215, the year it was issued), and the only surviving copy of the _**Beowulf**_manuscript.  
-There are a lot of stories about Chime Children in the UK. What they can see and at what times children must be born to be granted the ability vary throughout parts of the nation.  
-**Sir Gawain and the Green Knight** is an Arthurian story, so no doubt Irene was telling it to Arthur from a very young age. Just as Arthur says, Gawain, a knight of Arthur's round table, fights a knight who is green from his skin to his clothing to his beard.  
-In the UK primary school starts during the _year_ that a child turns five, so Arthur was actually four when he entered it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Guh... I fail. So sorry everyone. Hopefully you're still with me!

**Nikolas**- Norway

* * *

**Cerulean**

_Chapter Seven_

_

* * *

_

Arthur sat down on the edge of the dock, a paper bag in one hand and a tray with two cups in the other. There was a large beach towel slung over one of his arms. "Evening, Alfred. You're here a bit early."

From his place in the water, Alfred smiled. "Well I just got here…" Swiftly, he heaved his body up onto the deck. "What did you bring today? It smells _amazing_."

Arthur tossed the towel to Alfred, and he dipped it in the water and then placed it next to him for future usage.

It was a pleasant evening, the cool sea breezes tempering the summer heat. The sun wouldn't be setting for another hour or two, and Alfred's stomach did a little flip as he glanced over at Arthur.

They'd been doing this for a while now, but he never stopped being excited to spend his evenings with the human man. His boyfriend! Well… he thought they were that. They were dating after all, and Arthur wore a memento from him all of the time. He caught a glimmer of the pearl in his peripheral vision and felt his cheeks warm.

"Amazing?" Arthur quirked an eyebrow. "Well it's… rather good, I must admit. But it's not exactly considered high class by human standards. I actually wanted to get something else, but I was in a hurry, and this had to suffice."

Alfred shrugged. "Smells awesome though."

Arthur handed one of the drinks to Alfred. He'd long since learned how to use a straw and had drank soda-pop many times, so he quickly took to sipping the sweet, fizzy beverage.

"This is what we call fast food, Alfred," Arthur explained, reaching in the bag and pulling out two wrapped round objects and two containers of thin yellow food items. "It's what humans eat when they're in a hurry or want something that doesn't cost much. There are loads of fast food restaurants."

He pointed to a word on the side of the bag. "And this, is McDonald's." He slid one of each object over to Alfred. "I got you a quarter pounder with cheese, that's a hamburger, and a large order of chips. Fries, they call them in America. You eat it all with your hands."

Eyes large with curiosity, Alfred removed the wrapper from the hamburger, running his fingers across the bun as he did so.

A huge grin spread across his lips, and he didn't hesitate before taking a large bite. Arthur rolled his eyes, used to Alfred's huge, voracious appetite.

He swallowed, and his face promptly lit up, bright and beaming and… ridiculously giddy.

"This is…" he paused, "the GREATEST thing I have ever tasted! Oh wow, oh wow." He took another bite, quickly finishing off the burger in a manner that Arthur knew would have given him a stomachache.

"You-" Arthur huffed, "honestly, a hamburger, the best thing you've ever tasted?" He unwrapped his own burger.

Alfred nodded fervently, his blond hair releasing droplets of water as he did so. "It's juicy and delicious and… everything in it tastes amazing and when it's all combined it's so…" his eyes were practically sparkling, "_awesome_."

Arthur reached over with a napkin and wiped a dollop of ketchup from next to Alfred's mouth. They both flushed as he did so. "Wait until you try the chips," Arthur said with a chuckle.

* * *

The sun was setting, golds and purples reflecting on the surface of the Atlantic sound. They'd long since finished their McDonald's, and Arthur had gone inside to throw the trash away several minutes ago.

Alfred was lying on the dock, his tail half curled behind him and his hands under his chin, elbows resting the wood and propping him up. Arthur was sitting next to him, legs crossed and one of his hands toying with his cellphone.

He'd just finished showing Alfred a video on said phone (something that Alfred loved), and his thoughts were drifting back to the conversation he'd had with his mother earlier.

Arthur bit his lip and shoved the phone in his pocket, pondering how to bring it up with the merman. He could just be blunt about it, explaining the situation outright. "Oh by the way, my mum called and she wants to meet you." He could be a little more indirect, subtly bringing up the idea of removing the magic that concealed him.

All right, the latter idea was silly. Alfred was not very good at understanding subtleties, after all.

"Alfred," Arthur cleared his throat. Alfred raised his eyes to meet Arthur's, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Yeah, what's up?"

Arthur rubbed at his arm idly. "Well… I ah… I talked to my mother today."

"Oh, did you use the…" he mimicked a phone by holding a hand next to his ear, "telephone?"

"Yes, of course I did." He nodded. "Now… the thing is that… she's coming to visit," he rushed the last part out. Realizing that he still had his hand on his arm, he slapped it down onto his knee.

Alfred's lips stretched into a smile. "That's cool! She's coming all the way from England? On a _plane_?"

Arthur cupped his palm over his mouth and chuckled. "Yes, on a plane. Anyway-"

"I wanna meet her!" Alfred was leaning toward Arthur now, his body pressed forward and an eager expression on his face.

Well… that was easier than he'd expected.

Arthur flushed and scratched his cheek. "Actually that is… exactly what I wanted to bring up with you. I told my mum about… us." His face reddened further.

The merman blinked twice, before his cheeks heated as well. "A-about… us?"

Shifting a bit, because his phone was poking his leg, Arthur shook his head and gulped. "Yes, even about you being a merman. It's… odd, she actually believed me. Although that's because… Well no matter, anyway, she does want to meet you, and I was wondering if there was any way-"

Alfred was practically bouncing where he sat as he nodded. "Yes! I'll talk to Nikolas. He knows the most about magic out of our entire pod, so he'd be the best person to teach me how to remove the masking spell." He paused and scratched the back of his head. "I mean if I'm going to be your… boyfriend and everything, I'll have to learn it some time, right?"

Arthur felt a smile cross his lips. "Y-yes, I suppose that's true."

Silence fell between the pair for several moments, and then Arthur felt Alfred's hand atop of his. He squeezed it, running his fingers across Arthur's knuckles.

Arthur felt his stomach flutter and sighed. Sitting on this dock with Alfred, watching the sun set and the tide going out and just… the quiet and the intimacy of it, there was no denying that it was bloody _romantic_.

"Alfred… how much do you know about the sight?" he queried, for it had been nagging him since his conversation with his mother. All right, so as a child he'd had the sight. Fine, he could believe that. But it had apparently just vanished, almost fifteen years ago. Right, dandy. He was curious as to why, but it wasn't that important. What was really driving him crazy was… why had it suddenly come back for just Alfred and the other merpeople (well, Matthew, the only other one he'd met).

Alfred shrugged. "What is there to know? It's just… something that allows some humans to see through magic. It's really, really rare, although it used to be a lot more common."

Arthur blew out a puff of air and uncrossed his legs, allowing them to dip into the water. "Pretty much what my mum knew. Well, obviously I have the sight."

"Well yeah, of course."

"And that's why my mum believed me about you. When I was a young child, according to her I saw all manners of magical beings. But… then at some point, it stopped happening." He leveled his eyes with Alfred's. "Until now."

Alfred turned his body and followed Arthur's lead, allowing his fluke to dangle in the water. "Maybe it's because I'm awesome?" he said with a cheeky grin.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Idiot."

Alfred laughed, bright and loud. "Okay, fine. But… it's a possibility!" Arthur merely cocked his eyebrow and frowned. "Or… not. Look, I don't know. I know that… the magic of merpeople is really old though, and it's been kind of abandoned and stuff? Like it still exists, and there are still some merpeople who know a lot of it, but nothing new has been done." He shook his head. "There's a difference between performing magic and creating it. No one knows how to create it any longer." He raked a hand through his hair. "Uh, does that make sense?"

Arthur bit his lip and closed his eyes for a moment. "Are you saying that… perhaps the magic is… out of date?"

Shrugging, Alfred responded, "Well I don't know. I mean the disguise still works on everyone else."

"Perhaps it's just a bit rusty. It's lost some of its power over time. So because I once did have the sight, a bit of that is still in me, and… I can see you," Arthur mused, tapping his chin as he did so.

"Maybe…"

Alfred turned his face away, and Arthur could make out a faint blush on his cheeks. He furrowed his brows. "Alfred, what's wrong?"

Letting out a short laugh, he turned back and smiled a lopsided smile. "Nothing Arthur! I'm feeling great."

"If you say so…"

"I do!" He shifted an inch or few closer to Arthur, until his fin was pressing against Arthur's legs.

This had long since stopped feeling unusual to Arthur.

Actually, to Alfred's credit, he had… adapted well in more than one aspect also. He was a very quick learner, picking up on things from Arthur's world as if he were a sponge. And although Arthur had noticed his speech improving from very early on, by now he almost sounded like a normal human. The awkward pauses, strange ways in which he pitched his words, and odd intonations, had nearly vanished.

He'd assumed that the way he sounded so odd when he spoke English had partly to do with the formation of his vocal cords. Alfred wasn't human after all, and his form of language was… dissimilar from anything human. Plus, there were… other obvious anatomical differences.

Arthur wondered if it was at all a struggle for him to speak his language, to try to form words and speech in a way so fundamentally unlike his. He felt… a bit awful if that was the case, even though Alfred did it remarkably well. Perhaps, one day, he'd ask Alfred to teach him more of his language.

It would be a lie to say that he never thought about the… drastic difference between Alfred and himself. He did. It was a bit difficult to miss, and often when he was on his own, he cursed the fact that he couldn't give Francis a piece of his mind by showing him once and for all that he did have a boyfriend _thank you very much_. But his thoughts didn't really go beyond that and just… fretting over the fact that… when summer was over they would be… yes.

But when he was with Alfred, just conversing with him on the dock or out on the yacht, it was rarely more than at the back of his mind. It was just normal by now.

Merpeople were _normal_. Bloody hell.

As such, he hadn't really thought much about… the differences between the two. If Alfred's vocal cords were different, what else was different? He had sodding _gills_, after all.

He swallowed, thick and heavy, and felt heat rise up his neck and settle on his cheeks, tingeing them red.

Arthur let out a sigh as his forearm brushed against the fin on Alfred's arm. Perhaps they were too different after all.

But then again…

Alfred could not care less about that.

He felt a small smile quirk at the corner of his lips. "Fine then. Alfred, it's your turn to tell a story tonight, isn't it?"

The merman nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, and it's an awesome one."

"Then do begin…"

"Near the beginning of recorded time, there were many, many gods and goddesses," Alfred said, leaning over slightly onto Arthur's shoulder as he did so.

"Your lot has recorded time then?"

Alfred bit his lip in thought. "Well… not like you? I mean I've seen your 'clocks' and everything, and we don't have anything that specific. We measure by seasons and tides and the sun and moon though."

Arthur nodded. "I suppose that makes sense."

He grinned, continuing, "They had all sorts of powers. Some were in charge of the sky or the land or the ocean… and some were stars and the moon or even ruled over animals and stuff."

Arthur's body relaxed under Alfred's contact as he listened to him tell his tale. They'd shared so many, but Arthur… never really grew tired of it.

"But there were only humans back then. Humans and animals and all the gods and goddesses."

"No merpeople?"

"No merpeople," Alfred verified. "Anyway, there was this fisherman. He was hardworking and pretty awesome. He had his own boat, and he took it out every day and brought home enough fish to feed most of his village. He was really selfless and heroic, because he always shared his catch with the villagers before he ate any of it himself."

Arthur chuckled. "Blimey, could no one else in the village work?"

"Well I did say _most_," Alfred countered, a small pout crossing his lips. "I guess the other fishermen caught for the rest. So this fisherman though, he spent so much time at sea that one of the wind goddesses, who spent a lot of time over the ocean, noticed him one day. She thought he was pretty heroic and also… handsome, so she appeared to him one day in his boat and introduced herself. He was frightened at first, but she calmed him down and the two continued to meet up every day on his boat, despite the fact that she was a goddess and he was a human…"

He leveled his blue eyes with Arthur's green ones.

"And over time they fell deeply in love."

Both of them turned away for a moment, blushing pink.

Alfred cleared his throat. "He wanted to take her back to the village and marry her, and she agreed. They weren't quite sure how to make it work at the time, but they knew they could do it," he said. "But… it turned out that she had a very, very jealous past lover. He was a sky god, and he had never stopped trying to hold possession over her. He was extremely angry, and he swore that he would hunt both her and the fisherman down, and take her back and_ kill_ him."

Arthur made a small sound of acknowledgement. Alfred's myths, while very much their own, still often sounded like stories that humans would tell. He supposed that the core elements of mythology that were present in so many human cultures also carried over to that of the merpeople.

"She insisted that she be allowed to leave him. She thought that if she went to the sky god willingly, he would probably allow the fisherman to live as a bargain. But… the fisherman refused. He told her that he'd rather die than lose her," he explained, his expression serious. "They were on his boat one day when the sky god struck. He created a massive storm with wind and rain and thunder and lightning, swirling the ocean and causing enormous waves and… well you know, a big, big storm. The goddess knew that there was no way the fisherman would be able to survive it. She couldn't carry him to safety with the wind, because the sky god would just stop her since he was more powerful."

He nodded. Alfred never told his stories with that much eloquence, but he always got quite emotional when he was relaying them, growing angry or upset or ecstatic when the mood called for it. It… did make for an engaging experience, despite his usage of 'awesome' and 'stuff' and other such casual language as he did so.

"Knowing that the fisherman would die for sure, she made a decision." Alfred shifted and rolled on his back, and then without asking, he lay down and rested his head on Arthur's lap, as he had done the previous evening.

Arthur flushed but allowed it.

"She used her magic and transformed him. She turned his legs into fins and gave him gills to breathe, so he could live underwater. The sky god ruled the sky, so he was not able to go underwater. The fisherman would be safe there… forever." Alfred smiled now, straight up at Arthur. "But in another act of defiance, she transformed herself as well. The sky god was now also unable to touch her, and she could live her life with the guy she loved." He moved one of his arms up over his chest, and twitched it, as if asking Arthur to hold it.

Arthur feigned a scowl, but gave in, squeezing Alfred's hand.

"The sky god was so angry that he kept stirring up storms to draw them out. But it never worked. They were safe underwater. And… they had a family together, and from them were born the merpeople. Magic's been in our veins since the beginning because of the wind goddess."

"So that's your creation myth then?" Arthur queried, still holding Alfred's hand.

"Huh?"

"Well… every culture has a story about how the world was created, or how humans were created or whatnot, and this is yours, I suppose."

Alfred blinked. "Yeah then, I guess so."

Arthur frowned, deciding to bring something up that was intriguing him. "It's a little bit odd. Humans have stories about how humans were created. But we don't come from something else in those. It's not as if, I mean, there are tales of humans coming from merpeople. It's just… odd that humans were first before merpeople, that merpeople _came_ from humans, in your story."

The merman shifted, just a bit, and let out a "hmmm."

"Well… I guess it could be because, for us, we've always known that we're a little bit unusual, you know? I mean yeah, to me it's normal. But we used to interact with humans a lot, so they were part of our culture from the beginning. Even for us, it's easy to see that there's not much of anything else much like us. People are all people, from head to… feet. It's all the same. But merpeople are… sort of like a human and a dolphin." He shrugged. "Even when humans interacted with us, we were always strange and magical to them."

"And even though humans are a bit odd to you, it's not as much so as it is the other way around?" Arthur said.

Alfred nodded. "Yeah, but we've always been 'half-human, half-fish' to humans, so maybe that's why the story is what is."

Arthur tapped his chin. "Makes sense."

"But it was an awesome story?"

"Yes, it was nice. Very… romantic, I think." He stroked his fingers over Alfred's knuckles. "And sweet as well."

_A bit like you_, he wanted to add.

Alfred grinned. "Y-yeah, thanks. I… had been saving that one."

"Saving it?" Arthur quirked an eyebrow.

The merman gulped, and Arthur noticed that heat was rising to his face. "Until I was ready, I guess? I just… it's a story about… two different…_ y'know_, sort of like us?"

Arthur's mouth formed into an 'o,' and his cheeks flared up in a blush. The similarity had certainly crossed his mind, but he never imagined that Alfred had told the story for that reason on purpose.

"Ready for what?" Arthur asked, and his throat felt dry.

Alfred closed his eyes for a moment and made a quiet clicking noise under his breath.

And then he leaned up from his place in Arthur's lap, looping an arm around his shoulders and pulling himself up.

Arthur barely had time to register how close they were before Alfred pressed their lips together in a kiss. His green eyes went wide for a moment, and he swore his mind was about to bloody short circuit. But he pulled his thoughts together and decided that he should best actually respond, because the last thing he wanted was for Alfred to think he didn't like this.

That would be a ridiculous lie. He slid his eyes closed and returned the kiss, and it was warm and tender and Alfred tasted like a bizarre combination of saltwater and hamburger, but that was quite all right with him, because he didn't care _what _Alfred tasted like. He just cared that it wasAlfred_. _

Arthur's first and only kiss had been done on a dare during a party in high school, and the only reason that had happened was because someone had spiked his sodding drink, which made him… a bit less inhibited.

He really had no idea whether this would be considered a good kiss or not, but hell if he cared, because it felt good to him. Good and sweet and… right.

_Alfred_ was so right.

He made a small sound in the back of his throat and pulled apart for breath. Alfred's cheeks were scarlet, but he was smiling, wide and beaming.

"Good?" Alfred asked, a bit breathless.

"Very good," Arthur replied, knowing that his cheeks were as flushed as Alfred's.

Alfred's grin grew. "Awesome. I was just a bit worried because…" his voice went quieter, and a sheepish expression crossed his face, "it was my first time."

Arthur smiled, warm and genuine, and patted Alfred on the cheek. "For all intents and purposes, it was mine as well."

He nodded. "Oh well… Anyway, I meant to say earlier. You're… going to scoff at this and probably call me an idiot but," he paused, blowing out a puff of air, "maybe you can just see me because… we were supposed to meet."

Arthur's eyes went wide, but instead of scowling, a peal of laughter made its way out. "Y-you're right… that's completely idiotic. Things like that don't just happen."

He pressed a brief kiss, feather light, to Alfred's lips. "But… it's so very you."

Alfred pouted. Using his looped arm, he slapped Arthur lightly on the back. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? It should mean that it's heroic or-"

Arthur placed a finger on Alfred's lips to shush him. "That it's right daft, but that it's also terribly sweet."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Thank you for two hundred reviews. Much love!

* * *

**Cerulean**

_Chapter Eight_

* * *

Arthur thought that five hundred dollars was a load of money to spend on anything, let alone what he was doing now. But after much thought and consideration, and several more very nice kisses, Arthur had decided that he really did owe Alfred something.

Alfred so freely did everything he could in his world; learned his language, ate his food, spent hours upon hours out of water with him. Granted, Alfred hardly seemed to mind, but the least he could do was… try to return the favor a bit.

Still, scuba lessons were bloody expensive, and he'd had to dig deep into his savings to cover them. Arthur had worked his arse off in high school, holding multiple part time jobs and saving most of the money for his college years. He knew that most students his age hadn't done that, and it was a bit unusual of him, but he was… glad to have done so now. The money really did help, even if his mum and his absent father assisted him in paying with most things at this point in his life.

Arthur hoped that they would be worth the money…

Because spending two hours each day in a swimming pool, wearing a wetsuit and strapped in scuba gear, was… a bore. Also, he had a strong feeling that the instructor, Evangeline, did not like him very much.

"Eyebrows!" he heard a shout, and he paddled over to the edge of the pool. His instructor stood there, a smile on her lips and wet pigtails framing her face.

"Do you give derogatory nicknames to all of your students?" Arthur asked, sliding his mask off. Evangeline was very friendly and helpful to all of the other students, but she had loads of fun teasing him. Perhaps they'd just gotten off on the wrong foot, or perhaps it was Francis's fault. He chose to believe the latter.

She laughed. "Just the ones related to Francis Bonnefoy. I can't believe you're his brother!"

"Half-brother," Arthur corrected. "As I've told you several times…"

"Yeah, I know," she replied, slipping off her dive fins and padding over to the other side of the pool to help another student. "Although to be honest, I think Francis is more pleasant than you…"

Arthur's jaw dropped at this. "Evangeline, I—I should honestly demand a refund from you for saying that."

Francis had recommended Evangeline's dive lessons, and Arthur didn't actually want to know how he knew her. He had a feeling, and he didn't want it verified. Although perhaps, Arthur smirked inwardly, she hadn't been that impressed by Francis. Evangeline hadn't given Arthur a discount after all, despite Francis saying that she probably would. Well, he _would _have liked the discount but…

"All right, everyone. We have our first outdoor dive tomorrow at Micah Pond. Just a couple of more days, and you'll be in the ocean," she explained cheerily to the class, pointedly ignoring Arthur's statement.

Arthur frowned. The things that he did for lo-

His cheeks heated up, and he ducked his head underwater to cool them and abate his blush.

Bloody hell, it was exactly that, wasn't it? For love.

* * *

"Agh, Toris, I can't believe the walrus had to come along," Alfred grumbled, swishing his fin across the sand in an irritated gesture.

"The walrus?" Toris queried, his eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment as he trailed his friend.

Alfred grinned, pausing mid-swim to turn toward his friend. "It's what I've decided to call Ivan, because he reminds me of one. But seriously, this whole group hunting thing is such a stupid idea. I get that people within our pods are marrying and it's tradition and stuff, but that doesn't mean we need to spend time together."

Toris chuckled. "Well, in a way, you'll be family."

"…That is one of the scariest things I've ever heard," Alfred retorted. "Although I guess that since you're part of his pod, it's not so bad." He smiled and patted Toris on the back.

Spotting a large rock, Toris floated down and sat on it. "Still, you can't deny that Ivan is a good hunter…"

"Well of course. He scares the fish." Alfred joined Toris by his side. "Hey speaking of, he hasn't been… bugging you too much lately, has he? It just really irritates me how weirdly possessive of you he gets."

Toris shrugged, staring upward. He could make out the clear blue sky far above them. It was a pleasant, sunny day, and the water was warm. A school of fish swam by, obstructing his view. He turned back to Alfred. "I… don't like it either, Alfred. But I have been spending more time with Feliks lately." He blushed, light pink.

"Maybe he'll be less likely to do it if he knows how taken you are," Alfred replied, jabbing Toris in the arm lightly.

The color on Toris's cheeks deepened, and he ran his hands over the top of his fin absently. "Sp-speaking of taken, you and Arthur… you know, he can't… you said he leaves at the end of the summer."

Alfred sighed. Ever since he and Arthur had started dating, Toris's worry over their relationship had increased. He knew his friend meant well, and he was just a natural worrywart, but he still wished that he would be more supportive of him and Arthur.

He shrugged, turning his gaze upward as he did so. A small smile quirked at his lips. "Hmm, I guess. Then maybe I'll just go with him."

Toris's mouth dropped open, and his eyes grew wide. "Alfred… you can't possibly. What if you get hurt? And even if you don't, what if you don't-"

Alfred waved his hand, dismissing his friend's concerns. "Heroes can handle themselves fine, Toris. Plus, there's still lots of summer left. Nothing is definite." His face heated, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, I haven't… actually talked to him about anything like this. I don't want to weird him out or anything."

"Oh?"

He blew a string of bubbles from his mouth, exasperated. "Well… it's not like us. There aren't that many merpeople in the world, and a lot of the ones that are out there, we'll never meet. Don't get me wrong, a lot of us are really awesome, but the selection is kind of… limited," Alfred began. "There are billions of people in the world. Arthur says there are like three hundred million in America alone! We watched a video about it…"

"A video?" Toris raised his eyebrows, quizzically.

Alfred laughed. "On a pho- oh, never mind. I'll explain that part later. Anyway, because of that, because they meet so many other people, a lot of them take longer to… you know…" his cheeks reddened, "choose someone."

Toris nodded. "Humans are strange..."

"Yeah, but it's sort of awesome," Alfred laughed. "Anyway, I've got to go meet up with Nikolas. I've got something important to ask him…"

"What?"

Alfred pushed himself off the rock and flicked his tail, beginning to swim. "I need to know how to remove the masking spell. I'm going to meet Arthur's mom!"

Toris could only gape.

* * *

"Francis, you are absolutely not having a party here on the fourth of July," Arthur snapped, his eyebrows furrowed in irritation. He crossed his arms.

Sighing dramatically, Francis shook his head. He leaned back in the living room's recliner and laughed. "Do you have other plans here, Arthur? If not, I fail to see why it should be an issue."

"You're not even American. Why are you throwing a massive American Independence Day Party?" Arthur paced across the living room, stopping only to adjust his sleeve, which had rolled up slightly.

"Because American Independence Day also celebrates kicking English derrière, oui? That is enough reason for me."

"Francis…"

"You know me, any excuse to throw a party," Francis relented, shooting Arthur a wink.

Arthur grumbled under his breath. He did have plans. He wanted to spend the evening with Alfred on the dock. His father's beach house offered a prime view of the local fireworks display, shot from a yacht over the ocean, and he was sure that Alfred would love them.

He imagined Alfred's bright blue eyes, sparking with delight and wonder at the colorful display in the sky, and unbidden, a soft small smile crossed his lips.

"Thinking about Alfred?" Francis cut in, seemingly having noticed his change in expression.

Arthur stiffened, and his smile dropped. "As a matter of fact, I am."

"You should bring him to my party. You say he's shy, but honestly… there will be so many people there that no one would notice him," Francis offered, leaning forward in his recliner as he did so.

Glancing toward Francis, Arthur let out a light snort. "I sincerely doubt that."

Behind his brother, the early afternoon sun shone through the house's large bay window. Arthur frowned, wishing it were later, as that's when he'd be meeting up with Alfred. He was already in a sour mood because of his dive lesson earlier that day.

Francis raised a curious eyebrow. "Either your boyfriend is horrifically unpleasant and you're embarrassed, or he's excruciatingly beautiful, and you're afraid he'll fall for someone more on his level."

"Like you?" Arthur rolled his eyes. "Trust me, Alfred is the very opposite of interested in someone like you. And he's… far more handsome than anyone you've ever dated."

"Then we are back to him not being real," Francis quipped.

Arthur took a deep breath, willing himself to think of pleasant things that didn't involve punching his brother. "He is. We've been through this before."

Francis slid out of his recliner and sauntered over to Arthur, placing a hand on his shoulder. Arthur cringed, but relented. "Fine, fine. You know that I do want you to find someone, oui? I may find you to be unpleasant and unattractive, even for someone that for all intents and purposes, it would be creepy for me to be attracted to anyway, but… I do care about you. Besides, I think that a bit of… _joi de vivre _might make you less of a pain to be around."

Arthur's shoulders dropped, and he shook his head. "It's… he's good, Francis. I promise he is. He's… a bit daft, but he's… charming in his own way." He pulled away from Francis's hand. "But you can't meet him, and it would be impossible to explain why. I could just tell you that it's because he's allergic to perverts, but I don't think you'd buy that."

"The only way you could be allergic to me, is if you are allergic to l'amour, mon frère," Francis retorted, feigning offense.

Arthur just scowled.

"Oh, and I am still having the party."

His scowl deepened. "Then I'll be borrowing the yacht that night. Alfred and I are not coming to your asinine party."

Francis clucked and shook his head. "You can't hide him forever."

"That's what I'm afraid of…" Arthur mumbled under his breath.

* * *

It had been a week since Arthur had mentioned to him that his mother wanted to meet him. Alfred had been planning for that entire week how to ask Nikolas to help him. He considered cool ways to lead up to it, like… telling a story he knew Nikolas liked and then casually bringing it up, or asking Nikolas to tell him a story or just… bringing it up around Derek, because then Nikolas might agree to it just to get away from Derek.

But instead, Alfred had just… brought it up. He'd snagged Nikolas on his own near their cove that afternoon, pulled him aside, and asked.

"Nikolas, I need a huge, really awesome, really heroic favor from you," he said, a beaming smile on his face despite the manner in which his stomach was churning. Nikolas was cool, but he could be sort of… cold and very difficult to convince of things. Alfred blamed it on years and years of having to say no to Derek.

"What?" Nikolas replied, his expression neutral.

"I need you to teach me how to remove the masking spell," Alfred rushed out.

"No," Nikolas didn't hesitate.

Alfred sighed, dejected, but then frowned and puffed up his chest. "Please?"

"No."

"But you have to!" Alfred gestured with his arms. "Arthur can see me, but he's the only one who can! I have to… know."

Nikolas's lips twitched down into a frown, and he rested his arm against the cove wall. "If Arthur can see you, then isn't that enough? It's strange enough that he has the sight. Why do others need to see you as well?"

At this, Alfred's cheeks heated, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well you see… I'm planning on… meeting his mother."

Eyes widening, Nikolas made a series of quiet clicks in the back of his throat. "You- "

"She lives in England, but she's visiting him, and she wants to meet me. I think that it would be awesome if he could introduce her to me as… myself," Alfred explained.

Nikolas leaned his back against the cave fully and let out a sigh, his frown tightening after he did so. "Alfred. I'm not Berwald or Tino, so it might not be my place to say this, but… isn't that a bit serious?"

Alfred shrugged. "Arthur just said she wants to meet me. I don't think it's that big a deal that I'd want to meet some other people in my boyfriend's life."

"I need you to promise me a few things, Alfred," Nikolas said. "It's obvious… how much you care about Arthur, from what you've been telling us recently. I think that all of us understand this, and the biggest surprise here isn't that you're in a relationship with a human, but that a human can see you in the first place."

The younger merman pouted. "Geez, you all act like I'm so predictable…"

"In some aspects, you are," Nikolas quipped. "Many, many merpeople don't ever learn to remove the spell. Berwald doesn't know it, and of course Matthew doesn't. It's not the common knowledge it used to be. " He paused. "Alfred, the spell is there for a reason. You're reckless. You always have been. And you must be careful with who you show yourself to. Do not show yourself to anyone that Arthur doesn't trust with all of his heart, and that by extension, you feel is trustworthy."

Alfred nodded resolutely. "Yeah. I promise, Nikolas."

Nikolas's lips quirked up in a small smile, and he pushed himself off the cove. "I've never met anyone as interested in our history as you. When Derek and I tell Matthew about it, he doesn't tune it out, but… it's obvious he doesn't believe everything he hears. You know better, on the other hand."

"That's because it's all true!"

"It is. But you know, so much of who we are is being lost over time. Our magic, our history, everything. And… if there aren't more merpeople like you, who are interested enough to not forget it, to pass it on, who knows how much more will be forgotten? Most merpeople are like Matthew, after all."

Alfred bit his lip. "I-I've been telling Arthur… all of our stories, Nikolas. I've been telling him our history and our legends and… just everything I can. He loves hearing them. I'll keep telling him, because then there's at least one other person who knows and won't forget."

Nikolas brightened a bit at this. "I appreciate that, Alfred. I really do," he paused, lowering his voice to a murmur, "but it will still be sad to lose you…"

"What do you-"

"Never mind," Nikolas interrupted. "Follow me. I don't want to teach you magic so close to where we sleep. It tends to leave a residue, and Derek _claims_ he gets headaches from it."

Alfred laughed. "Are you sure it's not _you_ getting the headaches?"

Nikolas smiled and let out a short laugh of his own. "I think the exact same thing."

* * *

Doing magic was exhausting, Alfred quickly discovered. Nikolas explained that magic utilized energy the same way any strenuous activity did, and that merpeople could rarely do more than a few spells in a row without getting tired. Alfred had practiced the masking spell at least ten times. Perhaps, back in the days when magic was common, they were able to handle more, he'd mused. "But not now," Alfred grumbled. He felt as if he'd swum across the whole of Nantucket Sound without a break.

Alfred yawned and dropped his head onto Arthur's shoulder, shooting him an apologetic expression. "Sorry I'm so tired tonight…"

"It's quite all right," Arthur replied, absently carding his hand through Alfred's hair. "I'm a bit exhausted myself."

"Long day?"

"Mhmmm." Arthur hesitated, but pressed a kiss to the crown of Alfred's head. "Had a long err… meeting this morning, and I had to deal with Francis all afternoon."

"Same. But hey!" He bounced up, an enormous smile on his face. "I think I know the spell now! I've still got to practice it some more. I don't want to mess up and have your mom see me with just the head of a dolphin or something freaky like that."

Arthur chuckled. "Well, you've got a couple of weeks. I'm glad you learned it though. Mum will be thrilled when I tell her. She won't stop bringing you up on the phone." His cheeks flushed. "C-can hardly believe I have a boyfriend…"

"I assumed that the merman part would be more surprising."

"Yes, well," Arthur shook his head, "I suppose it is."

Alfred punched Arthur in the arm gently. "You're too hard on yourself. I mean, I know that you're grumpy and act way older than you are, but… it's not so weird that someone likes you." He made eye contact with Arthur, his cheeks turning a pleasant pink. "At least I don't think it is."

Arthur glanced downward, fiddling with the hem of his shorts as if it were endlessly fascinating. "You'd be the first."

"I don't mind that," Alfred said, placing a hand under Arthur's chin and tilting it upward. Arthur scowled, just barely, and his face was still red. "You're…" he laughed, "you're so cute."

"Hardly," he huffed. "A-anyway, I've got a surprise for you. Er, not tonight, that is. It will be… several more days. But I was wondering if there's any place in the ocean nearby that you really fancy showing off. It's um, connected to the surprise."

Alfred grinned, some of his usual buoyancy having returned. "A surprise, huh? It had better be an awesome one." He tapped his chin. "I know an area that whales sometimes like to gather in. Uh, I don't know the names you use. But we see… the ones with the big long white fins…"

"Humpbacks, I believe."

"Yeah! And the really, really huge ones. Not the biggest whales, but the second biggest in the world," Alfred explained.

Arthur shook his head in the negative. "I'm afraid I don't know that one. A-anyway, Alfred. Whales sound lovely, and I'd… definitely like to see them with you sometime, but I think they're a bit… grand for what I'm thinking of."

Alfred blinked in bewilderment. "Arthur, if you're worried about them hurting you, they won't! These whales eat tiny, tiny food."

"I know but…"

"And it will be like with the seals, okay? They know me. I'm their friend, and I say friend because whales are seriously smart, so it feels weird to call them a pet," he said with a laugh.

"But they're massive!" He honestly did want to go whale watching with Alfred, because if it was anything like the seals, he would get the kind of amazing, privileged view that so few others did. But swimming with them? The first time going scuba diving at that? That seemed a bit much.

Alfred smiled gently and clutched Arthur's hands between his. "I know, and they're amazing. Sometimes they even overwhelm me a little, despite my heroic nature. But… just trust me, okay? You know I would never let you get hurt." And Alfred looked at him with such truth and honesty and affection, that Arthur felt his blasted resolve melting away.

He sighed and chuckled under his breath, closing his eyes and leaning forward to take Alfred's lips in a brief kiss. "I… suppose, if you insist."

Alfred cheered.

* * *

-**Second largest whale in the world**- _The Fin Whale_. It grows to eighty-eight feet (twenty-seven meters).


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **WOW an update. Hope you enjoy! This fic is kicking into the long haul. I would imagine about six more chapters? Thank you for over 300 reviews.

* * *

**Cerulean**

_Chapter Nine_

By Everything is Magic

* * *

Arthur had done something wonderful for him the week before, and Alfred had rewarded him with giddiness and big sloppy kisses (a few of them even underwater). He'd learned to scuba dive so he could spend time with Alfred under the water and Alfred could show him… so many of the things he'd been longing to show him. That was what the whales had been for, and Arthur had scolded him later on upon realizing that swimming that close to whales was illegal. "Well not illegal for you of course, but for humans. I just… I swear to god Alfred if we get caught I will-" a huff, "you'd better make this worth it, you git."

Alfred thought, at least, that he had made it worth it. Arthur was breathless afterward, and there was an irrepressible smile on his face, a gleam of amazement in his green eyes.

It wasn't ideal. Arthur couldn't speak underwater, and he was still slow, and his mouth was covered so when he tried to kiss him he ended up kissing plastic, but it was pretty damn great. And they'd gone diving a few times since then, Alfred showing him some favorite areas in the sound. Arthur had also taken the yacht out to watch fireworks with him on Independence Day, a holiday that, he explained, was created to celebrate the country's victory in a war for independence from England (which Alfred found funny considering Arthur's home country). He'd seen the fireworks in the sound before during previous years, but with Arthur by his side, they were so much more beautiful.

To Alfred at least, everything was going perfectly. He couldn't imagine a better summer, a better thing to be happening to him.

He was in love with Arthur. There was no use denying it at this point. He'd known him for half a summer, and he'd spent nearly every single day with him. That was enough time to be sure of things, and really he had no reason not to be sure of it. He'd been drawn to Arthur since he first saw him… or well Arthur first saw him. And maybe Toris was right that he'd been infatuated at first because Arthur was a human his own age who wanted to be his friend, but that was totally not the case now.

Alfred knew that this, Arthur was what he wanted. In the same way that Matthew had wanted to be with Katyusha, in the same way that his adoptive parents had wanted each other so badly that they'd left their own pods behind for it. And maybe it was the realization that this was something real, something that he honestly wanted to pursue in that manner, that led Alfred to realize… that he had no idea what was going to happen. At the end of the summer Arthur would go back to his university and then what? He would see Arthur again, he would make sure of it, but would it not be until the next summer? Or maybe he could go with Arthur, but that was- he shouldn't have been thinking about something that drastic yet, right?

He had to make sure that Arthur knew how serious he was. If he were a merman Alfred would have probably up and proposed to him already, but he knew that things didn't always work that way with humans, so it was important to… be careful and think things through.

Arthur would have laughed and told him that "you're hardly one to think things through." And okay, maybe he was right. Maybe most of the time Alfred did just kind of charge head on into things, but… that's not what he was going to do here.

A hero had to adapt themselves appropriately for the situation after all, and that's exactly what he was going to do. He had a plan. And that plan began with Arthur's mother. Alfred had finally mastered the masking spell, and just in time, because she had arrived the previous day, and he was going to meet her that afternoon.

* * *

Arthur was nervous. He was nervous and anxious and his stomach felt like a twisting pit of... something. He was feeling rather ineloquent at the moment. His mother had arrived via taxi the evening before, and they'd eaten dinner at a local seafood restaurant. Unsurprisingly Alfred had been the subject of most of the conversation between the two. They'd talked on the phone several times since he'd first told his mother about the merman, but he'd actually attempted to skirt the conversation away from Alfred most of those times, finding it embarrassing to talk about his relationship with his mother. It was a bit more difficult to do that when they were talking face to face (even if that just made it _more_ humiliating). His mother was not a particularly nosy person, but the sheer strangeness had overridden that and she simply could not know enough. She at least had the decency to not ask many questions about their actual relationship, instead gearing her queries more toward Alfred himself.

Alfred, who she was about to meet. Should he have been so nervous? Alfred was friendly, if a bit overbearing. He could be obnoxious, but not to the point that his mother would be turned off. There was nothing to be ashamed of so why couldn't he calm down?

Oh right, because it was Alfred, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, this was… important. Over the past several weeks, everything related to Alfred had become important.

His mum was already important to him of course, but then when he combined it with Alfred his fretfulness was growing by the moment, and he had found himself chain drinking tea all day (even more so than usual). At the very least Francis was out of town. He'd gone, on Arthur's insistence, on a New England road trip with Gilbert and Antonio. He'd be back in a week and a half, because "I have to see your charming and extremely tolerant mother for at least a few days," but for most of her visit he would be gone.

Arthur took a deep breath and gulped, walking down the wooden planked dock with his mother by his side. At the end of it, in the water, Alfred was waiting. And he hoped he'd mastered that damn spell, because the last thing he wanted to do was introduce his mother to a dolphin. But he'd spoken to Alfred a minute before, and he'd assured him that he was doing it correctly.

"Mum," he said once they'd reached the end of the dock. "Th-this is Alfred."

Alfred had his head and shoulders bobbing above the water, and he was smiling.

"And this is my mother, Irene," Arthur continued.

Irene nodded, staring at the water as if expecting something. Arthur realized that from what his mother could see at the moment, there was nothing distinguishing Alfred from a normal human.

That changed quickly. "Hi!" Alfred said, his smile growing. He swam closer to the dock and held out his hand. "It's really great to meet you."

Irene's eyes grew large as she noticed the blue fin on his forearm. Arthur nudged her in the side. "Shake his hand."

"O-oh right, of course." She reached down and offered her hand, which he shook. "It's nice to meet you as well Alfred. I've heard so much about you."

Arthur blushed at this, and Alfred noticed, which resulted in his cheeks pinking as well.

"R-really? That's… great. Uh… Irene or… Arthur's mother?"

"Miss Kirkland is fine," Irene corrected.

Alfred scratched the back of his head. "Yeah that's right. The last name thing. Arthur told me about that…"

Arthur, his throat feeling a little less dry than it had minutes before (he knew the spell had worked at least), cleared his throat. "Alfred's people don't have last names, Mum. There aren't enough of them for it to really be an issue."

Irene looked slightly bewildered by this, but nodded. "I see."

"Look it's… this is a bit awkward so if you want to-"

Irene chuckled. "It's not awkward dear. It's just strange. It's not that I didn't believe you, because I did. But it's one thing to believe something, and another to see it with your own eyes." She shook her head. "And I apologize Alfred. Here we are talking about you as if you're some curio."

Alfred shrugged. "Nah it's no big deal. I can't believe I'm talking to another human!" Arthur felt a smile quirk at his lips at that. "I'm guessing you don't want me to come out of the water right now then? I mean if just seeing my arm weirded you out that much…"

"No, please do," she interrupted.

Arthur threw the towel he had hanging over one of his arms toward Alfred, who caught it and dipped it in the water, tossing it on the deck once he'd done so.

"Okay Miss Kirkland." He gave her a friendly wink and pushed himself out of the water and onto the edge of the deck.

Irene's breath caught, and Arthur felt his heart speed up. Alfred shot her a goofy, nervous smile and twitched his fin, just a bit. It glistened in the late afternoon sunlight.

"Blimey," she finally managed. "He's beautiful, Arthur."

"I know," Arthur said, the words slipping out before he could even register them.

Irene chuckled, and Arthur's face turned crimson upon realizing what he'd just said. Alfred's did as well. "I-I-I just mean that obviously I'd never seen someone like him before so it was striking, not that…" He spared a glance at Alfred, who was smiling at him, despite being flustered. "Oh bollocks."

"I don't suppose that this one can read Old English, can he?" she asked, and Arthur felt the mood lighten. His mother was good at that.

"What's Old English?" Alfred asked.

"You'd best answer him, Mum," Arthur said with a laugh. "He'll ask you until you tell him."

"Oh well…"

Alfred gestured next to him, patting the deck with his hand. Arthur took the hint and sat down next to him. "Arthur's been teaching me how to read," he explained. "It would be a lot easier if you were younger, he told me. But I've learned a lot, so it surprised me that there was a version of English I haven't heard of."

"You don't know how to read?" Irene's eyebrows shot up.

"There's no written form of his language," Arthur said.

"Yep. But Arthur kept talking about how he liked to read, and he told me about… all kinds of stories." Alfred's eyes brightened. "We tell each other stories a lot, and he told me there were more stories than he could ever tell me, so I wanted to learn."

Irene's expression softened and she kneeled down and sat next to Arthur. "Did Arthur ever mention to you that I'm a librarian…?"

"What's that?" Alfred asked.

And Irene cleared her throat, her posture proud. "I work in a place that stores millions of books. You could call me sort of a… keeper of knowledge?"

"Human knowledge?"

"Yes of course."

Arthur was about to say something, but Alfred grabbed his shoulder and he was practically bouncing in excitement. "Arthur, your mom is SO awesome!" Irene chuckled at this, and Arthur felt the last of his anxiety melt away.

* * *

"Toris, how can you tell if people like you?" Alfred asked.

Toris halted swimming and shot his friend a confused look. "Alfred, don't you think that everyone likes you? Save Russia, that is."

Alfred pouted and crossed his arms, floating downward toward the sand. "Well yeah, but I mean if they really like you."

Joining Alfred on the sand, Toris sighed. "Is this about Arthur again?"

"No, I'm… sure that Arthur likes me a lot," Alfred said, a blush crossing his cheeks. He dug his fluke into the sand idly, swishing it back and forth. "It's actually his mother. She's been here for seven days, and we really get along well. She's cool, but it's very important that she likes me a lot."

Toris's eyes widened, and he frowned. "You're not—er well, I think that if she likes you and you get along, that's enough. You've told me a lot about Arthur, and if she's anything like him, she doesn't really pretend to like people unless she has to."

Alfred let out a short laugh. "That's true."

"Alfred are you going to-"

"I'm going to ask permission," he interrupted, and his voice was soft, nervous and a bit tense. "I don't know if it's important like it is down here, but it's… something I need to do."

Toris gestured with his hands in front of him, his expression frantic. "But Alfred you… can't. There's so much that could go wrong and… he isn't even a merman and… oh gosh Alfred…"

Alfred quirked a smile. "You worry too much Toris. You always have. I don't know what I'm going to do. I mean I have ideas and sort of a plan, but I don't know how it's going to end up. But I do know that Arthur leaves at the end of the summer, and I have to do something before then. I also know that…" he leveled his friend a look, "I'm really serious about this."

"Will you change if you have to?" Toris asked, and he sounded breathless. Alfred froze for a moment, but then nodded. "What if things don't work out?"

"I won't do it unless I know they will," Alfred replied. "Hero's promise."

Toris smiled at that, in spite of himself. But then he shook his head. "I'll never see you again," his voice cracked.

"Of course you will. And maybe it will work out another way!" he continued. "There are lots of things we could do, right?"

But Toris, try as he might, wasn't as idealistic as Alfred. He couldn't think of many other options.

* * *

He'd begged Arthur to go get McDonald's to get him to leave, and leave he had, and now Alfred was… alone with Irene, Miss Kirkland, the woman that he had been preparing to talk to alone for days.

Irene was sitting on the end of the dock with him, chatting amiably about primary sources. It was what Arthur called one of her librarian rambles, and although Alfred found it mildly interesting at first, his eyes were starting to glaze over as she got more and more technical. He really had no idea what she was talking about by now. It didn't help that his mind was completely elsewhere. He stared at the sun slipping below the ocean line to distract himself.

Just breathe, he told himself. You can do this.

Alfred cleared his throat. "Miss Kirkland?"

She darted up. "Yes Alfred?"

"I have…" his throat felt dry, "something important to talk to you about."

His face was already red and he knew it. He could feel the heat seeping up from his neck.

"It's about me and Arthur…" He sucked in a breath. "I-it's not bad or anything! Y-your son is great and awesome and uhh-"

"Alfred, what's wrong?" She turned to face him. "Did something happen between you two?"

Alfred could hear his heartbeat hammering in his ears, and idly, he began twisting his fingers in his lap. "No. I just… I don't know if you'll think this is weird or whatever, but it's something we—my people- do, and I thought it was only… heroic of me to go about this properly."

"Heroic?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he let out a nervous laugh, "being heroic is important, you know? A-anyway. I… really like your son, and I-I-" his throat felt tight and constricted, and his ears were burning, "I want to be with him," he rushed out.

"But I need to ask you permission," he continued, turning to look Irene in the eyes. "Can I propose to Arthur?"

Irene's mouth dropped open, and her eyebrows shot up into her forehead. "I'm glad you care so much about my son Alfred, but you've only just met each other."

Alfred shook his head vehemently. "N-no. I know, but I'm really serious about this. I've spent almost every single day with Arthur since the beginning of the summer, Miss Kirkland. I know him and he knows me, and I-" he felt the words flowing, finally, "I think that there's a reason that we met. The sight is so rare that my uncle hasn't heard of anyone having it in his entire lifetime, and Arthur says that even his has been gone since he was really young!" He smiled, not wide, but small and genuine. "But then he saw me. Just me! After all of those years without seeing anything. And Miss Kirkland… I think that we're meant to be."

A very quiet, barely there sniffle from Irene followed his statement. "Bloody hell," she said. "You're crazy." Alfred frowned and was about to retort, but she chuckled. "But sweet, and besides, my boy could use a little bit of crazy in his rigid life to be honest."

Alfred cracked a smile, huge and beaming. "You mean…"

"How in the world, if my son does say yes, do you plan on making this work out?" she asked. "No offense, but these circumstances are… more than a bit unusual."

"We'll figure it out," Alfred said. "I mean we've already met each other, and that's the craziest part isn't it?"

It was then that Alfred's ears picked up the sound of footsteps, and he turned around to see Arthur padding down the dock, McDonald's bags in hand.

"I suppose that's true," Irene replied. "Well it's nice of you to ask permission. Very gentlemanly of you, although no, you didn't have to." She lowered her voice as Arthur was approaching. "If you can make it work, I'd be glad for both of you. You're a lovely young man, Alfred."

"So…?"

"Yes, yes you have my permission, dear," she clarified.

Alfred raised his arms to pump his fists in joy, but Arthur coming up behind him halted his action. "Alfred?" he asked, as he, caught in the act, slowly lowered his arms and let out a nervous laugh.

"Ahhaha, was just yawning," he lied. Arthur quirked an eyebrow but sat down.

"You tired then?"

"Not really. I think I'm just hungry." Alfred snatched the bag Arthur was holding out for him.

"Aren't you always?" Arthur snorted. "Anyway Mum if you don't mind-"

"I'll go in now, Arthur. I need to send out some emails for work anyway." Irene stood up and brushed off her shorts, waving backward as she left.

Arthur sighed once she was gone, and he leaned slightly into Alfred's shoulder as he opened up his own food. "Sorry to leave you with my Mum."

"No, no it's really great," Alfred said. "We had a… good time."

"That's nice. Still I—"

But he was interrupted by Alfred reaching under his chin and pulling him up into a kiss, one that was a bit more assertive than his normal initiations. Arthur closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying the fact that Alfred had prioritized kissing him over eating a hamburger. Once they pulled away, both of them flushed pink, Arthur coughed. "Wh-what was that for?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"Well no…"

Alfred grinned, wrapping an arm around Arthur's shoulder. "Nothing then. I was just happy."

Part one of his plan was complete, and it had gone off without a hitch.


End file.
